Memories of Phazon
by Ehanu Rehu
Summary: The power of memory is an oft-underestimated thing. A small band of heroes discovers just how powerful it is, and unleashes a war. Many will struggle for this new power, both for purposes good and evil, but only one will triumph. And whatever a hero discovers changes the galaxies forever.
1. Prologue

Memory.

Such a simple word. Six letters working together to bring the past into the present, through the realms of the mind. It is hardly given much thought by the majority of the populace in its day to day dealings. What threat, after all, could such a simple firing of cranial nodes pose to government, empires, or kingdoms?

History is rife with what memory can do. Memory can burn, love, hurt, heal, kill, revive, destroy, and create! Countless wars, countless acts of love, all attest to the power of memory.

What would happen if memory is given power? Memory, already a powerful force, could become, in the wrong hands, a Destroyer, an Armageddon, a force no being can endure.

But put that power into the hands of a hero, a champion for the innocent, a rescuer for the helpless, and it becomes another entity entirely. It becomes an energy that no evil can possibly dream to overcome. Darkness would have no chance of survival, whereas before it had a possibility of conquest.

How does one attain this power? What possible force of nature could super-charge memory with enough raw energy to become this game-changer of a weapon?

For millennia, race after race, species after species all passed away, seeking to discover this secret. Forces for good, waves of evil, all failed. A general balance kept, of course, but each generation passed away, giving path to a new one to fail at discovering this ultimate source of eternity.

Thus, the pattern was kept, a cycle instituted to keep both forces at bay.

Until, one day, a hero found the secret. One pure of heart, despite the years of war, stumbled across an ancient weapon, used for the purposes of evil and destruction. The weapon of shadow, empty of purpose, brake the universal expectations of it. Thus, the secret was found, and the hero became the ultimate warrior…


	2. Unpleasant Memories

**A massive battlecruiser sets down in the field. Humongous double-doors open and, through the resulting mists, Skywing Flame walks out, holding a strange device in his fore-claw. He walks to the middle of the field, sets down the device and holograms shoot out from the device.**

**Scrolling through the files, Skywing finds the link, and clicks it open.**

**Holo-comp: File found. Opening. Contents: Chronicles of the Sadarshia War.**

**Skywing Flame: (Turns to audience) I have returned from the ancient land of Siam. And I found this narrative. This story requires telling. It's been kept a secret too long.**

* * *

"Game set, winner: Krystal," the air hockey table announced.

A clatter resounded through the chamber as Falco tossed his paddle to the table's surface. He closed his eyes and, shaking his head, said, "I swear, Krystal, I don't know what it was that possessed me enough to challenge you to a game involving reflexes."

"Well," Krystal said, shrugging, "I can't help it. It's called a 'sixth sense' for a reason. I can't shut it off more than one can turn off their sight."

Falco would've argued further, had the game room doors not hissed open and Fox walked in.

"I, for one, don't know where we'd be without Krystal's ESP," Fox said, "so, here's one grateful soul."

As Fox put an arm around Krystal, Falco shrugged and walked over to the Holo-Net projector, turning on sports. Fox noticed today it was Grav-Ball from the recently-built stadium on Zoness. The two teams were just starting to face-off to begin the game, one side being the Ape-like Venomians while the other was a local team, composed of Zonessian Chameleons. The Cornerian referee floated to the centre of the zero-gravity chamber and started to run over the rules with the team captains. Just as the game began to start, though, Krystal coughed lightly.

"Any jobs from General Pepper?" she asked.

"No," Fox sighed, running a hand through his head-fur. "He's been in recovery from Aparoidation for a full year now. The good news is that he's progressing."

"That's good," Krystal said, "I'm just glad that the Aparoid War is over. The future doesn't…"

Quickly, Krystal shut her mouth and looking away from Fox. She didn't want to worry him; the team JUST relaxed from the Aparoid War, reaching a far edge of the Lylat System to enjoy some much-needed rest.

But Fox was too observant.

"The future doesn't what, Krystal?" Fox asked, attention fully turned on her.

Krystal sighed, almost wanting to say, _I should warn you…_

"I've been having dreams," Krystal said, "that I feel is our future. You were in them Fox. But, in the dream, I see you entering a cave infested with large tendrils of blue. I…I can't sense much more than that. It's as if…"

A siren split the air, breaking off Krystal's comment.

"All Star Fox Team, report to the bridge," ROB droned through the PA.

Falco responded immediately, dashing from his recliner, quickly followed by Fox. Krystal lagged, feeling breathless; the presence she felt. It…it was…

She shook the feeling and followed after Fox and Falco, a sudden dread piercing every inch of her being.

Fox honestly didn't know what to make of the situation.

To any outside observer, it appeared there was no threat. It was just a giant asteroid, larger than the Great Fox or any ship Fox had ever seen, floating around in space, nothing out of the ordinary.

_Right,_ Fox thought spitefully, _just like the Aparoids were nothing out of the ordinary._

"What are the readings from the scans?" Fox said.

"That's just it," Slippy said, tapping away at his consol. "They're all over the place, giving conflicting readings. Severe radiation, foreign tech, you name it. There's a presence of every entity that has ever been known to Lylatian history, and then as if that's not enough, there's countless readings of tech that has unknown origin, with the billions of DNA, radiation, and other readings that are close to overloading the scanners."

"Then, why did you call for all of us to head up here?" Falco said.

"Because of a reading that has appeared several times, consistently coupled with an unknown radioactive agent," Peppy said. He tapped his own consol, bringing up the holographic display of the DNA.

Fox's countenance broke as soon as he saw what the paired reading was. Connected to the radioactive agent was something that he never would've thought to have seen. Judging from the others' reactions, none of them were expecting it either.

"No, that's impossible!" Fox said.

"I thought we roasted those guys!" Falco said.

"Don't such creatures even know what 'death' is!?" Krystal said.

"I'm afraid what you're seeing is real," Peppy said.

"I checked it, and double-checked it over 100 times," Slippy said, "and the readings come up the same with every refreshing of the system's scan. It is what the readings say it is."

Fox glared at the asteroid, scanning it from tip to tip. His disbelief was gone, replaced with an absolute dread of hatred. The rest of the team gazed at the asteroid, feelings ranging from hatred to dread from member to member, standing shoulder to shoulder as if creating a wall to contain the evil they remembered with it.

Blinking on Slippy's scanning display blinked a single word, over and over, as if keeping the heartbeat of their former, hated enemy.

_*Aparoid**Aparoid**Aparoid**Aparoid**Aparoid**Aparoid**Aparoid**Aparoid**Aparoid**Aparoid*_

* * *

**Skywing Flame: And, thus my returning debut story begins in truth.**


	3. The Asteroid

**Ehanu: (Previously Skywing Flame) This chapter begins the Star Fox team's journey. Allies and enemies, new and old all begin to collide. Already, things begin to...**

**Andross: Get on with it!**

**Ancient Earthwalker: Yes! Get on with it!**

**Ehanu: Oh, yes, immediately, but might I add that this chapter has severely...**

**Audience: GET ON WITH IT!**

* * *

The core felt intelligence in the vicinity.

_At last,_ the core groaned, wakening from its year-long hibernation. Slowly, it awakened its other systems to a stand-by status as the four-winged battleship approached. The core began to realize just how long it was. Years already had passed by since Sadarshia was robbed of its stabilizing core energy by _her_.

_But now a new hope is dawning in the horizon,_ the core hummed to itself. _I only fear it may have come too late…_…

* * *

_3…2…1…deploy!_

The Landmaster ejected out of the landing bay, throwing Fox into his seat as the Landmaster flew into space towards the asteroid. Fox fired the fore-lift boosters, angling the Landmaster perpendicular to the asteroid's surface. He then cut the fore-lift; conversely throwing the aft-lift into full power, stopping the Landmaster's back flip. A minute later, the near-miniscule gravity of the gigantic asteroid caught the Landmaster, which the G-enhancers detected and amplified to typical Cornerian levels, sending the tank plummeting to the asteroid's surface. The Landmaster cratered into the asteroid, sending rock and other asteroid matter flying upwards to the stars.

Immediately, Fox ran a check on the Landmaster's hull and shields. The status screens appeared sequentially, each one identifying 100% status. Seeing no other tasks to complete, Fox fired the lateral boosters and took off across the asteroid, cannon primed and ready for any Aparoid hostilities.

"I'm on the asteroid," Fox reported. "All systems are green, and there isn't any immediate Aparoid presence."

"I'm not sure if that's good," Falco muttered through the comm.

"Alright, Fox," Peppy radioed, "now, according to the map scan, there should be an opening large enough for the Landmaster 2 kilometers ahead of your position. Now remember to keep an eye out for quicker exits for when you'll flee the asteroid; the bomb has a 6 minute fuse."

"Understood," Fox said.

"And Falco," Peppy said, "you're responsible for hoisting Fox out of there…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know gramps," Falco said, "I got this covered."

There was a slight jerk as the asteroid shifted under the Landmaster. Fox glanced up at the top-view Holo-screen, double checking that Falco's Arwing was still circling the asteroid. Fox quickly glanced down and gripped the controls, silently chiding himself for being so nervy.

_Come on, Fox, you're better than this,_ Fox said to himself, _you've destroyed the Aparoids once. There's no trick you don't already know._

For the pep-talk that was, it still didn't erase the icy feeling in Fox's stomach when he nearly fell into the hole in the rock. The hole was barely large enough for the Landmaster, leaving no room for u-turns. If he went in there, it would be a one-way street until the core.

Gazing at it on the screens, Fox felt like an Aparoid were already inside him, already chewing on his nerves and burning out his fear. Blaming it on over-used instincts, Fox plunged the Landmaster into the cave, the outboard lights illuminating the alien surfaces.

"Alright, blasted bugs, where is your dang hive?" Fox muttered, his eyes searching every inch of the caves. Silence answered, the only sounds coming from the Landmaster's booster vents as the tank journeyed deeper into the asteroid's bowels.

After what seemed to be an eternity, the tunnel opened into a cavern that could easily fit a couple Arwings, with some probable room for an extra Landmaster in there.

The Landmaster came to rest on a ledge, barely big enough for the Landmaster's bulk. Inching to the edge, Fox activated the lower-view Holo, opening up a view of the ground below. Crawling across the floor were millions of bug-like creatures, carpeting the bulbous growths in a grotesque dance of blues and purples, each one no larger than Fox's tail-tip. A scan revealed they weren't Aparoids, but were creatures that were sustained by some sort of intensely radioactive substance. Fox recognized it as the same radioactive stuff that was bonded with the Aparoid DNA Slippy picked up.

Curious, Fox ran a scan on the bugs' sustenance, which primary source appeared to be a pool of the stuff in the far corner. The scan read the signatures, taking a LOT longer than usual before coming up with no results.

Fox didn't like not knowing if something was a threat, but right now wasn't a good time chasing lesser threats. Better to destroy the Aparoid source first, before investigating this apparently new volatile material.

He hit the thrusters, lifting the Landmaster skyward. Maintaining an even height, Fox guided the Landmaster over the pit with an eye on another ledge. There didn't appear to be any sort of exit, but Fox's map identified a passage beyond the wall of that ledge. As Fox flew over, the ice in his stomach returned, more intense than ever. Fox felt eyes on him, the feeling increasing as the Landmaster hovered over the more dense concentrations of the bugs. He couldn't shake the feeling that _the_ _bugs_ were watching him, eyes intent with revenge and hatred…

Fox shook himself, focusing on getting to that ledge. They were bugs. They weren't capable of thought.

The Landmaster finally reached the ledge. Dropping down, Fox noticed that the wall wasn't quite as solid as it originally looked. A flesh-looking door covered part of the wall, again too small for the Landmaster. Scans indicated, though, that a brute force would be sufficient to remodel the wall.

Fox flipped open the bomb trigger on the right control thruster and, with a smile, pressed the button. A fiery red cone arced out from the cannon, colliding with the wall and obliterating any evidence of the wall's existence.

The resulting hole was large enough for the Landmaster, granting entrance to the tunnel beyond. Treading the Landmaster through, Fox noticed some sort of force field coming up in the view screens as he approached. As he did approach it, Fox ran a scan on the field. The results were quite odd, given the location and asteroid's supposed inhabitants.

*Atmospheric force field active. Any creature or object is able to pass through without impediment. The air contained in the field is breathable. The field covers the entire core room of the asteroid.*

_Why would Aparoids need an atmospheric force field?_ Fox wondered. As soon as he passed through it, he quickly discovered why.

A scream of metal and a sudden jerk to a standstill, that threw Fox forward against the screens, greeted Fox's entrance into the field. Shaking himself, he tried to enter the area again, with the same results.

_I don't believe this,_ Fox thought, grabbing his blaster.

"This is Fox," he said, moving the Landmaster cockpit into the field just enough that he could exit the Landmaster right into it. "I'm going the rest of the way on foot, thanks to the shrinking size of the cavern."

"We hear you, Fox, just…BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZHHHHHHHHHHT."

The sudden static cut off Peppy's comment, just as Fox left the Landmaster into the fielded area. Clicking his blaster's safety off, Fox trudged further into the asteroid, eyes searching the walls and ceiling for Aparoids.

Fox walked into darkness, his only light coming from his blaster's attached illuminator. Swinging the beam where he gazed, he noticed that the walls were starting to have more and more veins of blue arching through the walls. At the same time, Fox noticed the stone walls giving way to steel and various tech.

And none of it was Aparoid-tainted.

_What in the…_

His communicator bleeped loudly, almost sending Fox through the ceiling. Annoyed, Fox roughly crushed the button, accepting the call. But what came through was hardly understandable.

"Fox…-tch out…massive read…not safe," Slippy's voice stuttered through the static.

"Repeat the statement," Fox replied.

"Radi-…mutate…changes…mad…"

Fox grunted angrily, cutting off the link. Nothing bothered him more than a panicky Slippy with something important to say, but coming through no more comprehensible than a dying monkey-bird from Fortuna.

Despite his fears and logic screaming for him to go back, Fox pressed on, charging the blaster as he picked up the pace. He wanted to see fruits for his labor, preferably an Aparoid that he could shoot through the eye. He wasn't asking for a battle; he'd even take one of those one-shot-kill scout Aparoids to pot-shot, just to shoot something.

As if hearing his wish, the narrowing tunnel suddenly opened up to a pitch dark room. At least, it was initially pitch dark.

The moment Fox entered, another light started to brighten, accompanying his illuminator, save not so bright. Fox, curious, shut off his illuminator as the blue lights started to taper off in brightness. The scene would've taken Fox's breath away, had he not been so tense.

It was a large room, covered mostly in the bulbs and veins of luminescent blue. What wasn't covered by the strange blue stuff was covered in armor-grade steel, something that certainly wasn't of Lylatian design, if Fox's memory served him right.

Even with Fox's tenseness, he couldn't help but begin to feel his worry vanish. He didn't need to worry about the Aparoids; he saw none. There were no _immediate_ threats, and there was plenty of air for him.

Fox begin to feel relaxed, taking a deep breath of the heavy air.

_Call me delusional,_ Fox thought, _but that is the best air I've ever breathed._

Feeling better, Fox pressed forward with his blaster ready, although looser and more relaxed.

_A guy could get used to this,_ Fox thought, taking another breath.

* * *

"Come on, come on, come on, come on," Slippy muttered, various clicks and beeps coming from under the console where he was tucked, trying to boost the communicator signal. The air was charged with tension as the team tried to reach Fox. Peppy sat in his chair, deep in thought as he stared at the frontal console, and Krystal standing absolutely still, hands to her head as she tried to sense Fox. Aside from Slippy's mutters, there was no conversation or other sounds made. Everyone was just too worried.

"I…" Krystal said at last, "I'm getting a faint signal. It…it isn't…"

Suddenly, Krystal's eyes shot open and she gasped, her eyes wide with realization.

"What!? What is it?" Peppy said.

Krystal said nothing, but ran suddenly to the station Slippy was working on. She started tapping away on the keyboard like a madman, like time was of the essence, which it probably was. But she didn't answer Peppy or Slippy as they drilled for answers. But, finally, Krystal's frenzy ended as she tapped the _enter_ key with finality to end it.

On the screen started to list results of radioactive substances known to Lylat. Peppy and Slippy silenced as the list ran on for one, two, and then three pages. Next to each substance listed was an X, disqualifying each one from some sort of count.

"Krystal, what's this?" Peppy said, finding his tongue.

"The confirmation of my suspicion," Krystal breathed, "and of what I sensed."

"Please elaborate," ROB said.

"If you look at the list of substances," Krystal said, "you'll notice the families of every known substance known to Lylat."

"Exactly," Slippy said, "and your point?"

"The quality I activated for each one was the containment of neo-trace," Krystal said, "and none conform."

"Well, of course they're not going to conform!" Slippy said, "No substance that isn't part of a living organism doesn't have neo-trace."

"Wait, Krystal, what does neo-trace have to do with this?" Peppy said.

"Neo-trace is an otherwise-unidentified element in beings and things that have signatures when I probe them with my ESP," Krystal said. "Theoretically, Fox and the Aparoid should be the only things that I can sense when I probe the asteroid. But there's an unknown substance in that asteroid running through it like blood-veins in Lylatians."

"Okay, then, so what's the problem?"

"That substance that is a large part of the asteroid's make-up," Krystal said, "contains neo-trace. I could sense Fox and the asteroid."

"Wait," Slippy said, his mind catching up, "so what you're saying is…"

"That asteroid is sentient," Peppy said. "The Aparoid isn't _inside_ the asteroid, but it _is_ the asteroid."

* * *

**Ehanu: Not much to add, 'cept if you want to get in on this pre- and post-chapter comment system, post it in review or PM and I'll see to it. Although I have to add, this story took a lot of hard...**

***Power Beam blast slams into his head and knocks him out cold.***


	4. Nightmares ALWAYS Return

**Ehanu: (Standing in field, raises Star Binoculars to gaze at the sky.) It doesn't look too good for Fox. I'm pretty worried for him, aren't you? (Turns to patch of ground in which Phazon crystals have appeared and black particles begin assemble into a dark-red dragon.)**

**Ancient Dragon Writer: Yeah, whatever…when are you bringing Samus in?**

**Ehanu: Shhh…calm down. Patience always rewards those who…**

**ADW: (Glares at Ehanu) I will kill you unless you tell me.**

**Ehanu: *Sigh* Excuse me. (Seemingly disappears, but is seen flying extremely fast in distance. ADW is hot in pursuit.)**

"Fox, buddy, come in!"

Static.

"Fox, please respond!"

Nothing.

Falco bashed his controls with a fist, grunting in frustration. Krystal had just informed Falco of the situation, and he'd been trying to reach Fox ever since, but static was all that came back.

Sighing, Falco leaned back into his seat, listening to the near-quiet whine of the Arwing's engines. It was pointless; Fox's communications were interrupted by the asteroid's shell and armor. The Arwing was too wide to fit in there anyways, so Falco was left with nothing, except waiting.

_I hate this._

Falco glared at the massive asteroid, working the situation over in his mind. For all he knew, Fox was getting possessed right now. They had lost contact with Fox right as he entered the Aparoid's core, leaving them in the dark concerning Fox's welfare.

"This is Falco," he said into the comm, "I'm returning to the Great Fox for refill on bombs. If Fox is down, there's no point in being subtle about it."

"No, Falco, I can still sense him separate from the Aparoid," Krystal said.

"I prefer to be ready," Falco said, dread coloring his voice.

Coasting into the Great Fox's rear entry, Falco tapped in the request for bombs. The Great Fox's docking bay system began to arm the Arwing, simultaneously carrying it to the deployment bay.

_I swear, Fox,_ Falco thought, _if I can't save you, then you can be dang sure I will avenge you._

_Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…_Fox relentlessly berated himself over and over, as he pulled himself along the ground with his hands, barely able to make even that move. His strength was all but gone, his insides on fire as he could feel Aparoidation already beginning to set in.

_Idiot, you should've observed the conditions better._

Fox cried as a wave of pain coursed through him again, eliciting a cry from within him. He grabbed his head, agony giving him strength to clench his skull, the stinging of his grasp nothing compared to the fire inside him.

He rolled to his back as the pain crescendo-ed, all previous energy gone. He stared at the ceiling as the fire burned his insides. Fox almost could see the Aparoid DNA moving through the veins of the Aparoid, flowing through the rock and steel, and into him.

_Wait a second._

Fox narrowed his eyes, his fevered vision still able to make out blue liquid coursing through the veins of the asteroid-Aparoid. The liquid glowed blue and carried other veins of different liquids.

A new wave of pain shot through Fox, throwing him to his face. He tried to push himself up, but the strain made him shutter visibly. He clenched his eyes shut as the hurt increased to an all new high. Fox struggled, trying to get to his knees, feeling himself rise higher, as if the fire coursing through him were some sort of power making him grow.

"…ip…eh…ah…oh…WWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRR!"

The roar escaping Fox's jaws surprised him in a distant, remote part of his mind that wasn't wrapped up in the war of fire in his veins, even as his eyes shot open and blue light shot from every inch of his body. He began to rise up as the light intensified, illuminating the whole cavern with blue, pulsating light.

As fast as it began, it ended, the light vanishing from Fox as his strength fled. His arms and body all felt thicker and heavier, somehow. The weight pulled on him as he fell to his face, as his consciousness began to ebb rapidly.

Just as the darkness closed in, Fox heard a beep come from his comm, and his team's panicking voices broke the silence.

_Krystal, my love,_ was his last thought before his world went completely dark.

"Fox, respond! RESPOND!"

"It's no use Slippy, we can't get to him," Krystal said, eyes moist. She had heard that last emotional outburst from Fox. Now she would never know for sure…

"Falco," Peppy said, "can you blast a way inside?"

"Is the Cornerian sky blue? Of course I can, gramps," Falco retorted, with his ship angling towards the Aparoid. No sooner had he done that, than Krystal saw the surface of the Aparoid erupt with long tentacles.

"What the heck!" Falco swore as his ship pulled away just in time. The tentacles lashed at his Arwing in vain, warning him off. "Dang, I can't get in!"

Krystal began to feel hope wane as she watched Falco go at the Aparoid. He blasted several bombs into it, to no effect, and then blaster shots, with the same result.

In short, the dreadful situation just got worse.

The Aparoid-Ship fired a massive blue laser, which sliced towards Falco. Falco pulled out of the way just in time, as the beam moved on.

Falco braced himself for the next attack, which never came, but instead a massive explosion threw him off course.

Falco pumped the controls, trying to bring the Arwing to bear as it tumbled through space. At last, he angled the Arwing to face the Great Fox, pulling back on the brakes to see what this new attack was.

Falco didn't expect to see a massive blue wormhole.

Before any of the team could react, the Aparoid fired its engines, angling for the wormhole. It was getting away, with Fox still inside of it!

"Gramps!" Falco yelled into the comm. "Grab the Great Fox's blasters and blow the crud out of its engines!"

"You don't want to do that."

The voice reverberated through Falco's Arwing, his systems suddenly powering down into only life-support and drifting through space. He pumped the controls, trying to cough the Arwing back to life. Why had it suddenly sputtered like the broken-down Arwings of the Saurian adventure?

Suddenly, sparking to life in front of his beak, a hologram appeared on the Arwing's projector, displaying what appeared to be some sort of armored brain, colored with the shades of the Aparoids.

It was the battleship-Aparoid core.

"Mr. McCloud is still in control of who he is and I can't let you kill him."

Wait, was it speaking to Falco?

"However, I need to 'borrow' Fox for a while," the Aparoid's inhumanly-deep voice rumbled. "There's a race of creature that was unjustly brought to its knees. With my power, and Fox's cooperation, we will rebuild this noble race I speak of. And there is _nothing_ you or any of your friends in the supposed _Great_ Fox can do to stop it."

The Aparoid cruised faster, approaching the wormhole and about to enter it.

"Fox will never help you!" Falco cried at the hologram.

"Oh, no, I have to disagree with you on that regard, Mr. Lombardi," the core said. "Rather, I believe Mr. McCloud will be rather energetic to help. Do you want to join him peaceably?"

"NEVER!" Falco said.

"Very well," the core said. "If you won't help me now, you will later when you see the truth. Farewell."

With that, the Aparoid flung itself into the wormhole, becoming a blur within the blue tunnel, and disappearing into its depths.

Right then, all of Falco's systems sparked back to life.

"…come in!" Peppy was practically screaming through the comm.

"I hear ya, Gramps," Falco said, acting quick, "but there's no time for that now. That Aparoid took Fox and has plans to resurrect the Aparoid race!"

"You need to…wait…what did you…?" Peppy stuttered as realization set in.

"No time, Gramps, full power for that portal NOW!"

Falco opened up the Arwing's throttle, tearing through the space between him and the portal, with the Great Fox right behind.

The wormhole began to shrink, already down from being big enough to fit the Aparoid, to half that.

Falco quickly did the math. At his current rate, he could easily get into the wormhole before it closed. But, for the Great Fox, he wasn't so sure. At best, it was going to be close. At worst…

_At worst, the Great Fox will become chopped liver, Aparoid style,_ Falco thought, anxiously keeping an eye on the portal. The distance between them and the portal shrank, even as the portal tightened its belt, making their chances smaller and smaller.

5 kilos, 4 kilos, 3 kilos, 2…

_WE'RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT!_

Suddenly, a blazing red light fired from the Great Fox's normally-blue thrusters, rocketing it the last kilo into the portal, just as the portal bounds snaked over the Great Fox's bulk. Falco, dumbfounded at this newfound strength of the Great Fox, started to slack on his controls.

"Falco, you comin'?" Slippy yelled, "or did the Great Fox's new engines catch you off guard?"

Resuming pressure on the thrusters, Falco shook his head as his Arwing was enfolded in the portal's embrace next to the Great Fox.

_Slippy, you little sneak,_ Falco thought, that's_ why you turned down my offer to go on a double-blind date to the New Year Celebration._

The two ships started to molecularize in the teleportation energies of the portal and, just before the wormhole catapulted them into hyperspace, Falco thought, _at least it saved our tail-feathers, or whatever toads, rabbits, vixens, and androids have for…_

The ships vanished, the wormhole closing, as if sealing their fates, and a new adventure had begun.

**ADW has Ehanu in a headlock, as they roll around on the ground in a brutal wrestle. The battle goes on for several minutes before Ehanu finally taps out and yells: OKAY, STOP! I'll put Samus in soon.**

**ADW: (Stands up, dusting himself off and looks at the beat-up Ehanu) **_**How**_** soon?**

**Ehanu: (Starts to answer, but sees the death glare ADW is giving him.) Uh…how about next chapter?**

**ADW: That's satisfactory.**

**Ehanu: (Stands and flaps his wings once to clear out the dust on them) Just, don't do that thing with your claws again. That creeps me out.**

**ADW: What? You mean, THIS!? (His claws elongate and serrate. Phazon courses through them and black fire ignites them.)**

**Ehanu: (Gulping down his fear) Yeah, that.**


	5. World On Fire

**Ehanu: Here's the promised chapter, and with the promised-appearance of Samus. Brace yourself, it's going to be a slightly fast chapter.**

**Ancient Dragon Writer: That's fine. I can do fast.**

Samus was never a religious, or karma-believing type. But, now, she was ready to believe the truth of "what goes around, comes around." _Especially _if it was referring to Samus herself. As she watched the passing asteroids through the viewport, she recalled the circumstances bringing her to this point.

It had all started when she was enjoying a warm summer day in the Agon Plains. Samus had _thought_ that fleeing to Aether, post-BSL Incident, she would be able to cover her tracks and avoid detection from the Galactic Federation. The Luminoth took her in immediately, U-Mos promising all of their aid. According to U-Mos, the Luminoth owed it to her. Sure, the gifts and hiding places when the GF came sniffing around were really great, but it was starting to get on Samus' nerves that EVERY Luminoth walking past her would place his or her right claw over their chest and slightly bow their head towards her.

Thus, her enthusiasm for this mission.

U-Mos had come to Samus on the aforementioned day to tell her about a strange, energized planet that had some disturbing similarities to multiple planets, Phaaze and Dark Aether among them. Naturally, Samus had demanded to know if Phazon and the Ing returned. Unfortunately, the typical "we're not sure" that accompanied such readings usually followed. S-Vie, the leader of Science Team, had said there were various life-forms on the planet surface, with more appearing every day.

"It's probable there are Ing and Phazon-powered enemies there," S-Vie concluded.

So, thus had begun the week-long preparations for the trip to this new planet, which the Luminoth had found was called "Sadarshia," thanks to some high-resolution pictures they managed to get from satellites in the planet's area. While her ship was being reconstructed, Samus went exploring across Aether, searching for any upgrades. To her surprise, she had found many caverns like the ones on Zebes, although not nearly as numerable. Within said-caverns, Samus found Chozo upgrades, like the Varia Suit, various beams and combos, and other movement systems, enhancing her armor-suit back to its usual full-strength. Even the Gravity Feature, a rather handy suit upgrade, came back, although a combination of Chozo gravitation technology and Luminoth aqua-pack.

"Hey, Samus, I'm getting a weird reading on this sample we picked up."

_Speaking of Luminoth…_

Swiveling her chair around, Samus glanced at the two armored Luminoth at the workstations on each side, the one armored in a Dark Suit looking over various feeds and reports, occasionally making an adjustment or two. The Light Suit armored Luminoth, however, was turned around in her chair, motioning to Samus. Samus stood, walking over with slight tension. T-Fru wasn't one to get ruffled in the fur, being a scientific type and having seen a lot of things in her short life.

"Alright, T-Fru, what's the problem?" Samus said.

"This reading is the problem," T-Fru said, swiveling back to her station, visor seemingly locked on the screen. "According to the records your ship and the Aetherian Library contain, the actuation function shouldn't be oscillating at this rate. Now, I thought that the Geiger-counter equator was the problem…"

"What's the problem, in simple terms?" Samus said, cutting off T-Fru's scientific chatter.

T-Fru sighed, turning back to Samus.

"Phazon usually has an intense, yet consistent, power output," T-Fru said, "but, the radiation output from that asteroid we picked up, it seems to give off a lesser output."

"Meaning?" T-Gan cut in, making T-Fru roll her eyes.

"Imagine Phazon is a singing meta-morph, with the power output represented by the way the meta-morph sings," T-Fru said. "The kind of Phazon you're used to dealing with, Samus, was very much like the meta-morph became a massive creature and sits there screaming at the top of its lungs."

"Okay," Samus said.

"Now, we turn to the Phazon found in this rock, and the meta-morph is more like a young baritone occasionally bursting forth with a loud spurt, but the majority of the time sings an energetic, yet whisper-like _pianissimo._ That's the Phazon sample I'm looking at here; there is a MASSIVE energy potential, but only 1% of it is being given off. Every now and then, it'll throb with an intense energy spike, but it usually stays, metaphorically, quiet."

Even with the comparison thrown in, Samus still found her head swimming with that explanation. A look at T-Gan revealed he felt the same.

"Alright, keep on it," Samus said, "and work on a translation of the characters on that tablet while you're at it." Samus, returning to her seat, tried to think over this discovery. She hardly understood T-Fru's explanation, but she did get out one point.

This wasn't the Phazon Samus was used to. And, if that was any indicator, this wasn't going to be any sort of mission Samus was used to either. Thank goodness she decided to bring T-Fru and T-Gan along, despite their lack of experience.

During Samus' retirement to Aether, she had befriended the twin Luminoth, finding out from U-Mos that Luminoth twins were a rarity never seen in his lifetime. And U-Mos was an old Luminoth with still many years left. But, apparently, Luminoth twins had a heightened sense for each other, actually able to telepathically communicate and coordinate attacks, in addition to their natural family bond that warned them of each other's danger.

The thing that had really caught Samus' attention with them was how different from each other they were. For one, as noted, T-Fru preferred the Light Suit, where T-Gan favored the Dark Suit. T-Fru preferred thinking out a strategy while T-Gan would run in, beams blazing. T-Fru was patient, T-Gan wasn't. T-Fru was scientifically-apt; T-Gan was trigger-happy. And they bickered often.

But the fact remained that they were still very much connected by their telepathic connection and would do anything to protect each other. For that reason, Samus had consented to their accompaniment on this mission to the mysterious Sadarshia. Dangers, creatures, and enemies galore awaited them on Sadarshia, but that telepathic connection was just one more advantage against a seeming ocean of disadvantages and unknowns, as well as the extra back-up.

She also liked their youthful energy and metaphorical spring in their step, both of which lightened her mood more than once on their journey thus far.

"The translation module is done!" T-Fru declared, flinging herself back into her seat. "It is now scanning this tablet for a few minutes."

"Good," T-Gan said, "I want to know what happened to that Phazon-like planet we keep finding pieces of. Maybe it's a war story."

"Whether or not it's a war story," Samus said, "it still is something that will be able to help us as we approach Sadarshia. The more knowledge we can arm ourselves with before the battle, the more prepared we are."

T-Fru and T-Gan hmphed, glaring at each other a moment, then looking away at their workstations.

"Avoiding fights is better than battling it out," T-Fru muttered.

"Fighting your opponents is better than trying to learn everything at once," T-Gan muttered.

Samus sighed, still not sure about that bickering tendency the twins had. Turning to her own console, she brought up the translation of the tablet as it finished its scan.

From the very get-go, Samus could tell it was a Lore. At the top, separated from the rest of the text, was a title like all lore entries she had seen the Chozo, Luminoth, Bryyonians, and other races record.

*_The Fall_

_The war is over. The Aio have won. Our Royal Army is defeated, our Emperor murdered by the Destroyer. Our poor home is dissolving into nothing, collapsing from underneath our feet in a massive collapse._

_Many of our number have tried to reach that _other_ world, figuring any world was better than our dying one. The portal rifts won't allow us through in our True forms, the poisonous atmosphere of the Aio world pushing us even as it burns and kills us._

_Our world still remains, however, despite what the Aio and their pet Destroyer may believe. But it degenerates more every day, natural disasters becoming more often, and our beautiful planet becoming nothing more than a burnt asteroid floating through the galaxies as the days go by. Our science team estimates we have a month, maybe less, before the world tears itself apart._

_We yet have time left, our world desperately trying to hold itself together. But without the precious Lifegiver, all is vain. It too was stolen as well as the many lives sacrificed for our noble cause._

_To all who read this, I am Thrak, one of the last of this noble race. And may the ancestors curse the day the Destroyer and its masters, the Aio, were brought into this universe. And may the Blue Poison and its master, the Shadow Seeker, be condemned to an everlasting torment for what they did to us!*_

"Samus," Adam, the ship computer, said.

"Yes?" Samus said.

"We have arrived at our destination."

The twins, hearing this, stood and walked over to Samus' chair, and Samus stood up to look out the window at the planet below.

With a mass around average, and a well-varied ecosystem, the planet they gazed on wouldn't have seemed any different from any other planet. At least, had it not been for the strange reports of Phazon-like energy, Pirate activity, and countless other similarities to other adventures Samus had experienced, it would've been passed over by Samus as inconsequential.

Samus gripped the command console as she stared down the planet, tension evident in every motion she made.

"Sadarshia," she whispered, flames sparking around the ship as they entered the atmosphere. "Let the nightmares begin."

**Ehanu: With the approach of Samus, all the pieces are falling into place. Nobody knows what will happen, and there's no telling when...**

**Ancient Dragon Writer: CHECKMATE!**

**Ehanu: (Stares at chess board, eyes focused on the pieces. Tries moving rook, then knight, and finally the king, but apparently to no avail. Looks up at ADW with an expression of faint surprise.) What the freak, dude? That's the third game in a row.**

**ADW: Heheheh. You did want to play me.**

**Ehanu: *Sigh***


	6. Dread of the Dark

**Ehanu: Ancient Dragon Writer brought up a question for me a couple days ago: who are the Aio and what race of alien wrote that lore entry?**

**Ancient Dragon Writer: Good, we get to find out…**

**Ehanu: …if you continue reading this story. You wanna know who the Aio and this mysterious race is? Read on.**

"Samus, look!" T-Fru shouted as she pointed out the front view port.

Samus turned her head, looking at the point T-Fru was referencing and surprise mixed with annoyance as she saw what it was.

"Don't they ever know what death is!?" Samus groaned, sitting back down in her seat and prepping the systems for a bombing run.

It was, naturally, a Space Pirate Dreadnought, fully loaded with enough firepower to take out a city. Many kilometers in size, any ship captain would think twice about attacking such a ship.

But Samus wasn't "any ship captain." The twins returned to their seats, strapping themselves in for a battle as the red attack warning beacons illuminated the inside of the ship.

"Adam, plot a bombing run that will take out the critical points on the ship," Samus said, prepping the system, ship, and shields for battle.

"Will do, lady," Adam said, "I'll also make sure the cargo hold is strapped down this time. We don't want another run like we had on Rastar."

"Do what you gotta do," Samus said, "and while you're at it, run a systems operations check. I really don't want us to break something critical mid-battle that can be repaired now. T-Fru, begin analysis of any enemy tech that the Pirates have armed themselves with that we don't know about. T-Gan, prep the weapon systems for an all-out raid, and make sure we have enough ammo."

"Samus, wait," Adam said.

"We can't wait, Adam. You know how the Pirates are," Samus said.

"Yes, but their weapon systems are already active."

"All the more reason…"

"And they're firing at something else."

Samus almost froze at that. But, her instincts kicked back in.

"Alright, T-Fru, forget analyzing the Pirates, turn the scanner to whoever it is they're attacking," Samus said.

"Roger," T-Fru said.

"Do you still want the weapons armed?" T-Gan asked.

"Whoever is down there getting shot at will need our assistance, so yes, please," Samus said, turning back to her screen as the data analysis turned up. Activating the camo-cloak, Samus swung the ship's trajectory towards the now-evident battle. Bringing the ship within visual range, Samus zoomed the scope towards the two ships as T-Fru scanned the unknown ship.

Samus had seen many battles in her lifetime, with many kinds of alien races and alien tech. But none of them had ever impressed her as much as this one.

Just off the Pirate Dreadnought's nose was another massive ship, about the size of a Galactic Federation Battle Cruiser. This ship, at first glance, wasn't as intimidating as the three-prong design of the Pirate ship, but, as Samus could plainly see, looks could be deceiving.

"Cancel all battle protocol and optimize scanners for visual observation," Samus said.

"Wait, I thought we were going into battle," T-Gan said, obviously dismayed he wouldn't see non-simulated battle.

"That's one rule of battle you've yet to learn, young Luminoth: the best battles are where others do the battling for you while you get to watch," Samus said.

_And the other reason being it's an extremely rare treat,_ Samus thought to herself, turning her eyes back to the battle.

The very first thing Samus noticed was some sort of energy covering the majority of the unknown battle ship. Puzzled, Samus turned to the scans, which showed the battleship's shields still at 98%, and holding, even as endless volley's of laser-fire rained on it. Glancing closer, she saw that it was a rather pleasant surprise. The battleship was covered in a sustained shield.

_Impressive, to say the least. Luminoth scientists just barely came up with a personal-use one, with several years before they come up with the right energy source for even a space fighter, _Samus thought.

The next thing Samus noticed wasn't until a few more minutes of watching the Dreadnought pummel the battleship mercilessly, with no response from the battleship. As Samus just started to wonder why the Pirates considered the battleship a threat, (and why there were several critical hit gashes on the Pirate Dreadnought) a yellow glow began to emanate from two ports on the lower fore of the battleship. Without warning, two humongous lances flew out from the battleship's fore, slicing towards the Dreadnought. Interestingly, the Dreadnought turned all of its weapons from the battleship and towards the beams, without effect as the beams collided with the Dreadnought and forced it to change course a few meters, simultaneously knocking the Dreadnought's weapons temporarily out of commission. A minute later, the Dreadnought continued firing, but with noticeably lesser amounts of laser bolts.

_Okay, that is a concerning army, whoever owns that ship,_ Samus thought, her surprise turning to worry. If that laser was in the wrong hands, Samus probably would need to do that bombing run any way.

After the laser, Samus noticed yet another thing that sunk her fears even deeper.

As the Dreadnought and battleship continued their battle, Samus kept hearing her ship's life-sign scanner detecting a steady decrease in number of Space Pirates aboard the Dreadnought, as well as minor explosions along the exterior of the ship. Looking back and forth between the ships, Samus didn't see any other fire come from the battleship, so what was causing the deaths inside and outside the Dreadnought?

Her answer came as a strangely-designed space fighter winged just in range of Samus' visual scanners.

Adam, thankfully, was on his metaphorical toes and managed to get a quick-scan before the fighter winged out of range to attack the Dreadnought again. The quick-scan was a welcome feature from the Luminoth, but still came with its drawbacks.

_*Alien spacecraft quick-scanned._

_Spacecraft: Markings on the side identify target as "Arwing." Size is equal to your Gunship. Detecting massive energy readings from weapons systems. Further scan required for more information.*_

She really wanted more info on that spacecraft. "Arwing" wasn't a name she had ever encountered with her travels.

But to get a thorough scan would require distance between the Gunship and the Dreadnought that put detection high up in the possibilities.

_The Pirates probably won't notice…I hope,_ Samus thought, starting to ease the Gunship forward.

The Gunship's zero-atmosphere thrusters whined, accompanying the at-times screech of the Dreadnought losing another vital system. Keeping her eye on the scan-distance radar, Samus slowly edged to the circumference of the battle space, each kilometer seeming to take years as the Gunship slowly crept forward.

To her relief, the green light came up on the scanner, and Samus quickly scanned the first "Arwing" in range. As the scanner did its thing, Samus couldn't help but admire the acrobatics of the pilot flying that Arwing. Whoever they were, they knew their ship and how to pull out the most killing power out of it.

The scanner beeped, notifying Samus of a complete data download. Not bothering with the data yet, Samus turned to the larger battleship. One 15-second scan later, the battleship, called the "Great Fox," was in Samus' databanks and ready for review.

"Alright, lady, let's turn tail and try to…" Adam started, before a shockwave cut off any other comment, shaking every inch of the Gunship like it was attached to the tail of an angry Blogg.

Samus was almost thrown from her seat, and a thud from her back-left gave away that T-Fru was thrown completely. Somehow, T-Gan managed to hold on, but just barely.

"What the…?" Samus said, pulling herself up in her chair, but all comment died on her lips as she saw what it was.

Extending from the Dreadnought was something completely and totally alien to Samus, and something that was terrifying in its dreadful power. She hadn't expected to see a black-and-blue energy line running from the Space Pirate Dreadnought to the planet below, and she _definitely _didn't expect to see the half-organic, half-mechanical tentacle-claws branching out of the sides of the Dreadnought and a single large eye-like orb extending from between the Dreadnought's prongs. But, looking at the monstrosity, Samus began to feel, probably the first time in a long time, bile inching up her throat.

"What…is…_THAT!?_**" **T-Fru gasped.

Right then, Samus saw what had made the Gunship lurch. There was a tentacle retracting, probably from hitting them. It was aiming itself right at them, and it was leering back for another strike. It could see straight through their stealth shielding, Samus realized.

"Hold on!" Samus yelled to the twins, pulling on the controls, "Adam, divert all power from stealth shields and into the weapons systems, and plot a bombing run while I scan this new abomination. We need to take out what we can and figure out how to beat this thing!"

"Roger," Adam said.

The Gunship pitched wildly as Samus swung out of the tentacle's path. Rolling out of it, she swept the Gunship's trajectory back in an effort to get out of the Dreadnought's range. But the ship lurched again as another tentacle found its mark.

"T-Fru! Get a scan running on this thing and find its weaknesses! T-Gan! Get to the turrets and see what you can do up there!" Samus ordered.

"Roger," the twins said simultaneously, running to their respective stations.

As the tentacle reared back for yet another strike, Samus went into battle-trance.

It usually happened when she fought intense battles, but she wasn't completely unaware or uncontrolled. But, rather, it was her zone, her way into the heart of her enemy's lair, and her path to victory.

The space in front of the ship lit up suddenly, as T-Gan fired the turrets into the mass of tentacles. Many of the tentacles reeled at this new onslaught, their screeches slicing into the audio receivers. Samus paid it no heed, instead whipping the ship through a cage of tentacles, giving T-Fru as good a shot at the scan and T-Gan as good a shot as possible.

At some point in the battle, Samus' communicator dinged with an incoming communication. Mechanically, she opened the channel while dodging another mass of tentacles.

What came through wasn't intelligible, but was some alien language Samus was yet to get a translation module for. This fact managed to get through to Samus' non-entranced part of her mind, grabbing on by sheer value of its oddity.

_I have the translation for every alien race, don't I?_ Samus thought. Quickly, she put the question to Adam, who merely voiced the same concern.

"I'll get working on a translation module," he said.

Samus nodded and looked back to where her ship was headed, only to see that the moment's distraction had directed attention away from the very large, and very real eye looming above her screens.

She tried to steer away, but the eye-orb suddenly burst and divided itself into hundreds, even thousands, of more tentacles, waving for her ship.

_This isn't good,_ Samus thought, mind frozen at the sheer vulgarity that was the inside of the orb, or tentacles, or mouth, or whatever it was. And, to make things worse, a sudden gravitational flux pointed the Gunship right for the inside of the thing.

"Okay, that's NOT good!" Samus yelled, gripping the console.

Another communication came through, still gibberish, as the battleship – or, Great Fox, Samus corrected – turned its nose towards the mouth-like hole. Samus double-taked when she saw the great, dual cannons charge with energy, yellow spilling from the cannon mouths. Were they going to…?

Two large, deadly bolts arced out from the cannons, leaping across space in a matter of moments and crossing the gap in seconds. Samus shouted in surprise, seeing the beams headed straight for her ship. Seeing the damage those lasers had done to the Dreadnought…

But, no. The beams slung right by, a beam on each side in a deadly gauntlet, and entered the Dreadnought's mouth. No sooner had they impacted inside than the orb-mouth closed violently, seeming like it was going to vomit. But, instead, it unleashed a scream, red and orange fire ripping out from its insides as the Dreadnought's internal atmosphere ignited and burned. The gravity-pull immediately released the Gunship as a fireball consumed the Dreadnought in a terrible show of majestic death of ship and Pirate within.

And almost as fast as it happened, it was over. Silence overcame the Gunship interior and the gap between it and the battleship Great Fox. Aqua-blue streams displayed behind the fighter Arwings as they approached the Gunship, then green energy encasing the blue pods on each wing as the Arwings pulled to a stop, a mere kilo away from Samus' ship. The silence became tense immediately as Samus stared down her perhaps-one-time allies. Whatever they were doing here, it probably…

"Translation module finished," Adam announced, shattering the silence and making Samus jump, "installing now."

And not a moment later, the communicator pinged again.

"My name is Falco Lombardi," a smooth, yet hard voice came through the speaker, "I am the second-in-command of the Star Fox Team. Identify yourself."

Samus breathed deeply, aware of the Luminoth Twins returning from their stations, T-Fru with a data pad containing the late-Dreadnought's info. Before they could say a word, Samus held up a hand, saying, "Stay cool. We've established contact with the opponents of the Pirates. They call themselves Star Fox, and seem friendly, but stay on your toes."

Samus then turned to the three Arwings and, hitting the communicator switch, said, "My name is Samus Aran, bounty hunter and chief investigator of the anomalous planet called 'Sadarshia.'"

The other one, Falco she remembered, didn't respond immediately. Looking closely at the Arwing fighters, Samus couldn't help but notice that the weapons were seemingly few in number for a ship of that size. Only what appeared to be a beam cannon on each wing joint and a hole at the nose-tip, large enough for something the size of a missile to get out. Other than that, though, there were no other weapons.

_They did wreck that Dreadnought a new one, though,_ Samus thought.

"You will follow us back to the Great Fox," Falco said at last, "and there you will receive debriefing of what we know concerning Sadarshia. If you make any move to attack, or leave before debriefing, we will cripple your ship."

With another glance at the Arwings and their blaster cannons, Samus confirmed her compliance by easing forward on the thrusters.

"Wait, we're going with them?" T-Gan said.

"It certainly looks that way," Samus said.

"We don't have to do what they tell us," T-Gan said, "c'mon, I'll charge up the turret and…"

"Just stop that thought right where it's at, young Luminoth," Samus barked, whipping to glare at him.

The fire in T-Gan's eyes fizzled out almost immediately under Samus' stare, and he sat back at his station, mumbling. T-Fru, meanwhile, looked perplexed. Samus could see the question just waiting to fling out into the air.

"You need something?" Samus said.

If Luminoth could blush, T-Fru probably was right now. She glanced down, embarrassed, and then cleared her throat as she prepared to speak. From the way she held herself, it looked like she had bad news.

"First, a question," T-Fru said, "have the Pirates ever willingly submitted themselves to any sort of mental possession?"

Surprised by the comment, Samus almost answered in the affirmative. But then her mind started rifling through all the times Samus had encountered with possessed Pirates. Every time she could think of, Samus remembered there being a sort of resistance from a number of Pirates. It was true of the occasional possession by Ing on Aether, and it was true of a number of the Pirates when Dark Samus had taken command of them.

"No, they never have in my experience," Samus said, drawing it out in thought, chin in her hand. Then, she came out of the thought and turned back to T-Fru and said, "Why?"

"Because this time is no different," T-Fru said, "That energy line from the Dreadnought actually originated from the _planet._ And, what's more is as the line hit the Dreadnought, it broke into pieces the size and shape of…of…"

Cold dread seized Samus and shot through her spine as it dawned on her what the Luminoth was trying to say. Samus wished it weren't true, begging for it to not be so. She had been begging for it to not be true ever since the Luminoth scientist told her of the possibility, yet here it was, almost staring her in the face.

"It was a Warrior Ing, wasn't it?" Samus hissed.

She didn't need T-Fru's affirming nod to know she had guessed right, or the intensifying dread either.

Turning back to flying, Samus glared daggers at the planet below.

_Just looking at it, you'd never know,_ Samus thought.

"So, what they say is true then," Samus said.

"What?" the Twins said.

"That nightmares always return."

**Ehanu: Nightmares have returned, old enemies returning to haunt Samus, and there's no telling if this new team will be an asset or a threat to Samus' mission. What else could possibly occur?**

**Ancient Dragon Writer: Alright, I admit, that was pretty cool.**

**Ehanu: And it will only get better.**


	7. New Allies, New Mission

**Ehanu: (Sitting in front of Xbox, eyes locked onto the screen with obvious excitement dancing across his eyes. A tribal sounding song with orchestra fills the room as the game begins and Ehanu begins rocking out. Ancient Dragon Writer comes in about to ask a question, but sees Ehanu rocking out. Ehanu stops once he sees there's a spectator.)**

**ADW: What're you doin'?**

**Ehanu: I'm…uh…playin' Halo.**

**ADW: Haven't you played that a billion times already?**

**(Samus walks in about to ask a question too, but hears the conversation.)**

**Samus: Halo has been out for a full decade now and you're still excited about it?**

**(Fox also walks in, with yet another question, but also hears the conversation.)**

**Fox: You can't be **_**that**_** excited still over that game.**

**Ehanu: (Looks down, face going purple from embarrassment.) This is actually my first time owning and **_**really**_** playing Halo.**

**(All three stop, mouths and eyes WIDE open at what Ehanu has just revealed, all speechless and likely going into shock. Ancient Dragon Writer's eyes roll back and he falls to the ground, unconscious. Samus' face turns red with anger and eyes furrow in fury. Fox stands there with a look of mixed horror and confusion on his face.)**

**Ehanu: (Turns to audience) True story.**

Samus again wondered if this was a good idea, flying into a ship with unknown loyalties and motivations. But, as the Gunship floated into the Great Fox's hangar bay, Samus settled that there was no turning back now. This battleship was likely loaded with a tractor beam, and judging from the unconventional upgrades she had scanned on the way in, this was no standard-issue military ship.

A sudden thud and slight lurch from the Gunship notified them of the ship being grappled by the Great Fox's docking system, then followed by a tilt as the system pulled them into a vacant docking slot. A mechanical whirring warned Samus of a catwalk extending to the sides of the Gunship, even as she noticed the three Arwings enter the docking bay begin their docking begin.

Samus disengaged the safety systems locking her to the chair and keyed the ship's elevator to rise to the upper opening instead of the usual lower one. Turning to the elevator, she nodded to the Twins as she stepped towards the activation hologram. When they didn't move, however, Samus stopped.

"What's the matter?" Samus said, "aren't you comin'?"

"We want to be ready in case something happens," T-Gan said, baring his claws, "then you've got a couple surprises for…"

"The best way to defend against enemies," Samus interrupted, "is to make them your friends. I would highly recommend that you put aside your childish desire to blow something up and Get. On. The. Elevator. Now."

Not even looking to see if they'd follow, Samus stepped into the hologram, activating the elevator and beginning the ascent to the upper hatch. She didn't have to wait for the Twins, knowing they would likely just get bored and follow anyway. As the upper hatch opened with a hiss, however, she wondered if T-Gan would be able to control his trigger-finger. Wrapped in her thoughts, she was immediately aware of the elevator jerking to a stop at the roof of the ship, revealing the insides of the massive mother ship the Great Fox was. Samus had seen many ships, both mercenary and military grade, in the course of her adventures. And she had to admit that this ship ranked high on her list.

The Great Fox's docking bay interior was Spartan when it came to design, with control wires and transistor connections being where they needed to be and nowhere else. The alien patterns and writings signified various things, but only that which was needed. The one thing that Samus noticed over all else, however, was the unique docking system that now held her ship. When she had entered in, she hadn't noticed how the system worked, but outside her ship, she saw that the ceiling-suspended docking racks followed two different paths. The one Samus had taken was a frontal entry that grabbed her ship, flipped it around 180 degrees and moved it to a holding position on the side, at which the catwalks extended, ensuring proper containment of the ship.

The other path was discovered when Samus saw the three Arwings coming the distance through the long tunnel that extended behind Samus' position. The three Arwings stopped shortly after Samus' ship, then moving and locking into their own to-the-side positions, leaving the track to the front of the bay free for deployment. The back, Samus could only guess, led to an aft-positioned bay meant specifically for docking.

In essence, this docking system was of the more-advanced systems she had seen in battleships of this size.

Samus jumped down off the Gunship, stepping towards the gap between her and the three Arwings as their pilots exited. Samus observed each pilot, trying to figure who it was she had spoken to. The beings that came out of the fighters were a little surprising to see, considering Samus' home planet.

The first pilot out looked like a purple vixen, wearing similarly-colored armor. The way it carried itself, it could only be female. The next pilot out was a green, frog-like alien, wearing a yellow jumpsuit. It almost tripped on the way out of its Arwing. Just by its clumsiness, Samus guessed it was a male, but not the one she was looking for.

Then the third pilot exited, and Samus knew it was Falco.

First off, just the way he seemed to float out of his Arwing suggested he knew his space craft, down to every rivet, joint, and stain, and there was nothing that happened to his space craft that he didn't know about.

In a word, this blue-feathered, red-armored falcon-esque alien was Falco.

Samus couldn't really tell with foreign species, but she was still willing to bet a few credits that Falco had had his run of swooning fans and screaming girls, begging for him to marry them. Just his very stance identified a presence that he knew he was the ace pilot of the team, and likely the very best in the galaxy.

And Samus was certainly willing to believe it, too.

Then Falco turned his hard eyes towards her and she knew then that the time for indecision was long past.

Taking a deep breath, Samus began walking across the catwalk beginning to span the width of the gap. Just wide enough for two people to walk in opposite directions comfortably, it provided the perfect platform for the two parties to walk towards each other. Walking towards each other, Samus almost imagined that it was the setting of a Western showdown from one of those circa-1980 Earth films. But, one thing she was glad to have that they didn't have in those films was her trusty scanner.

Putting her hand to the scan-activation button, she initiated the short process of scanning each alien, starting with Falco. Once the scan finished, Samus noticed that her visor continued to highlight the other two with a blue aura, signifying that they were the different species from Falco.

*_Morphology: Lylatian Pheasant_

_Species is one of many in the Lylat System. The Pheasant, strangly, resembles more closely to that of birds of prey on Earth, the exceptions being the anthropomorphic skeleton, and evolution making the wings into hand-like limbs. The Pheasant species is known throughout the Lylat System as having an affinity for aeronautics and space flight. Current subject, Falco, is probably the best pilot out of all the aces in the Lylat System.*_

For how little Samus knew of these aliens, this was a surprising amount of information, even with her scan visor. With a hint of suspicion, Samus silenced her external speaker, privatizing her conversation.

"Adam, why is my scanner getting more information than is immediately available?" she said, knowing the answer.

"I figured you would be searching for any clues on this situation, so I just copied the files from the Great Fox's databanks," Adam said.

"Well, just be careful that you don't set off alarms," Samus said, "we don't want these potential-allies to become a headache like the Pirates are."

"Affirmative," Adam said, "but there is one piece of information I believe you'd be interested to know."

"And that is?"

"This is a mercenary group," Adam stated, "and by the looks of their financial transactions, they've got connections to the Cornerian Armada, a military fleet in their home system."

"Thank you, Adam, that could actually help in the future," Samus said, turning to scan the other two aliens. With that information in mind, she scanned the frog (a Lylatian Toad, surprisingly) and the vixen (a Cerinian Blue Fox) for more info. She found the frog, named Slippy Toad, wasn't too much of a flyer, preferring a wrench over a blaster, while the blue fox, with only the name Krystal, appeared to have a sixth sense or ESP capabilities.

_I might have to watch my thoughts around her,_ Samus thought, suddenly insecure about her internal feelings. If they had the advantages of a PK-prodigy…

She didn't let the thought remain, instead focusing on the approaching party. If there was one thing she had learned, it was to make a good first impression. That was key, she found, in establishing good relations.

"Samus," T-Fru said on the com-link.

Silencing the external speaker again, Samus responded, "yes?"

"Take a look at the docking racks the Arwings are in," T-Fru said.

Samus looked over at the Arwings, wondering what it was she was looking for, when she spotted it. There were three Arwings, but four docking racks. Looking back at her docked ship, she noticed that her Gunship was in one of three docking racks, with the other two still empty. With the naked eye, it seemed nothing was unusual, but T-Fru must have noticed something to bring it to Samus' attention.

Activating her scan visor again, she scanned the empty slot on the Arwing side.

_*Docking Rack system._

_This technology utilizes magnetic and anti-grav machinations to life and store space-craft that is fighter-sized._

_This particular rack doesn't have the signs of disuse the seeming "guest" racks are contaminated with. The signs indicate that this rack's use was stopped very recently.*_

Samus clicked the com-link on her helmet.

"There's a missing ship, isn't there," Samus said.

"Yes, it's like the scan said: recent use, but no ship," T-Fru said.

"And a missing ship means a missing pilot," Samus said, the dots suddenly connecting.

"Which means that…"

"You're right."

Samus snapped her attention up to the other group, now just a few meters away, but not walking anymore as the toad and pheasant – Slippy and Falco, Samus reminded herself – were looking back at the fox, Krystal.

"What did you sense?" Falco said.

"She knows why we're here," Krystal said, staring at Samus.

Samus let her hand fall from her helmet's com-link, letting the external speaker reactivate. Since the Metroid was out of the bag…

"My, uh, _assistants_ ran a scan of your docking system," Samus said, "and found that one of the racks was recently used. I then scanned it myself and found the same thing, drawing the conclusion you conveniently, um, sensed."

Falco turned his gaze towards Samus, eyebrows raised. He seemed tense, and cautious, despite what Samus was used to seeing in pilots of his ability. But, finally, he sighed and relaxed, turning all the way to face Samus.

"We _are_ looking for someone," Falco said, arms (or wings) crossing his chest, "a very important someone to our team."

"We're looking for our leader," Slippy piped up, turning himself as well, "one by the name of Fox McCloud."

As he spoke, Slippy tapped his gauntlet, which fired a hologram into the air, stopping a few inches tall. The image displayed was a figure much like the other three Lylatians, save he was a fox-like one.

"This is Fox," Slippy said, "the leader of Team Star Fox. He was captured by an entity called the 'Aparoids,' and we fear he may have been turned to them through possession."

"Sort of like the Ing do," Samus said.

The blank looks she received signified the three Lylatians didn't know what she was talking about.

"I'll explain after," Samus said, "but how did your leader get caught?"

"It happened when we were patrolling the outer boundaries of the Lylat System," Krystal said. "We were all trying to relax when we came to an asteroid giving off large energy readings."

The hologram in Slippy's gauntlet changed, the image of Fox shrinking and being replaced by one that made Samus catch her breath. The image was that of a Phazon Leviathan.

"Having previously finished a war with the Aparoids," Slippy said, "we were naturally suspicious of the Aparoid DNA readings coming from it. We also identified another substance which was the source of the intense radiation readings…"

"Phazon," Samus said.

"Uh, yeah, so Fox took a Landmaster tank in to investigate and somehow fell prey to a mind trick by the Aparoid at the core," Slippy explained, "But, then suddenly the Aparoid activated and revealed the whole asteroid was the Aparoid, with the core of it being the central processing unit."

Samus nodded as Slippy explained this, wondering about the Phazon. It wasn't that surprising, given the shock of the Ing, but still it was bitter news. The one question on Samus' mind was how the Phazon had escaped the chain-reaction the source's destruction had caused. Perhaps, it might have had something to do with the things called "Aparoids."

"And, then the Leviathan, as you called it," Slippy continued, "fired a beam that opened a wormhole, through which the Leviathan fled. We barely got into it in time and came to this place. You saw what came after."

"The one thing I'm wondering, though, is just what are these things called the 'Ing?'" Falco said.

"I could explain for you," Samus said, tapping on her communicator, "but I only have limited experience with the Ing. I believe for the explanation, I will have to refer you to a race that has had years of experience fighting them."

On cue, the hatch over on Samus' Gunship hissed as the lift brought up a figure, who swiftly leapt off, a few moments later another figure of similar stature appearing. Samus turned away from the mercenaries to watch the Twins' progress, as well as theatrically sweeping her arm to introduce the Luminoth.

"What in the world are _those_ things?" Falco muttered.

"It isn't anything I've ever seen before," Krystal said.

"Lady and gentlemen, may I introduce you to T-Fru and T-Gan, twin Luminoth siblings," Samus said as they got in earshot.

"Impressive structure," Slippy said.

"What is it, Samus?" T-Fru said, as they reached Samus' position.

"Is there trouble?" T-Gan said, activating his dual Arm Cannons.

"No, no, no," Samus said, holding out her hand, "there's no trouble save that of the Pirates, Ing, and whatever dangers the planet holds. This is merely a formal introduction and an answer to their question."

T-Fru perked up at that, turning her eyes towards Samus.

"You require a scientific explanation?" she said.

"A _summary_, if you will, of the Ing as we all head up to the bridge," Samus said.

"Oh, well I can do that," T-Fru said, as they all began walking towards the other side of the hangar, where the elevators were located.

As one, they all began walking back towards the Arwing side of the hangar, T-Fru occasionally ducking the occasional crossbeam. Samus held back, listening with half an ear as she continued observing the Arwings. Once again, she found the design ingenious.

_I'll have to rethink my ship's bulky frame,_ Samus thought. And it was true, when compared to the Arwings. The arrow design looked like it'd cut back really well on fuel usage in atmospheric flight, as well as keeping her vision to the left and right free from obstruction. Even though her ship was equipped with cameras for the blind-spots, there was still something better about seeing it with your own eyes that made it better.

"Samus," a voice whispered. Samus turned around to see who had said it, only to discover T-Gan was still standing where he had been before, arm cannons primed for combat.

Samus shook her head, palming her helmet in exasperation.

"What?" Samus hissed.

"I'm goin' to go through the vents and do some stealth recon…"

"Put away your arm cannons and just come on," Samus said, "the last thing we need is a trigger-happy Luminoth stalking through the ventilation systems trying to start a fight."

T-Gan, determined, didn't move, except to turn and begin his search for the vents.

Samus hated being ignored, especially after a direct order had been issued. Clenching her left hand, she threw out her Grapple Beam, snagging T-Gan by the neck of his torso-plate. Turning around, Samus began walking, wrenching T-Gan to his back and dragging him along, the sound of grinding metal and Luminoth curses filling the air.

The Lylatians and T-Fru turned around, surprised at first, but smiles on their faces when they saw the scene. Samus only thought bitterly, _I came here to get a job done, not baby-sit a hothead Luminoth. I just hope I can keep him under control._

But, somehow, she felt that keeping this wayward alien in line would soon become the last of her worries. In the pit of her stomach, she felt a tugging, as if some deity were trying to warn her away from Sadarshia.

**Ehanu: (Shouts as he dies, **_**again,**_** by an invisible Elite's hand.) Why can't I use their energy swords!?**

**Fox: It's the first Halo game, duh! Energy swords didn't come out until Halo 2.**

**Ehanu: Well, that sucks, but at least it's fairly easier to kill invisibles.**

**Samus: Just don't shock Ancient Dragon Writer again with some game everyone but you has played.**

**Ehanu: I've never played Bioshock yet.**

**(Samus faints.)**


	8. Information

**Ehanu: Okay, so now we're going to get this story movin'. There's been a lack of substance in one or two chapters past, and a lack of action. But, here, we're going to pick things up a little bit. Also, I'm gonna focus less on the substance of these chapter introductions and more on the quality of the story. Sorry, Ancient Dragon Writer.**

The elevator ride was mostly uneventful. Most of the Star Fox Team and Samus' Team was silent, save for T-Fru and Slippy talking of the Ing. Well, of that and these "Aparoids" the Star Fox Team talked of, with some animation. From the sound of their conversation, the Ing and the Aparoids were pretty similar, save the Ing were organic while the Aparoids sounded more like mechanoids. Both, however, had a seeming hive mind and possessed a capability to bend others to their will be it machine or organic.

But it was their most recent similarity, that of their resurrection, that bothered Samus the most. It wasn't the return of the threat that was most troubling, rather, it was the feeling that all the monsters Samus had previously destroyed or caused extinction of would soon no longer remain dead.

Memory could be a troubling reminder, at times.

"Ah, there she is," Falco said suddenly. Surprised at his sudden remark, Samus turned to ask him what he was talking about. But then the elevator emerged from the shaft and revealed another part of the hangar, taking Samus back as her eyes were treated with a whole fleet of star fighters.

As Samus gazed over the many ships, she couldn't help but feel impressed by it all. First off, there was the sheer enormity of the Great Fox itself. And then there were the sheer number of ships. However, Samus could see, judging from a scan she ran on two or three docking slots, that these ships hadn't been used for a while, especially the ones that had parts missing.

Following Falco's gaze, Samus tried to determine what he meant by "there _she_ is." But, she soon saw it and nodded with understanding.

The subject of Falco's and Samus' observation was one of the star fighters that had all the parts inside still, although appearing to collect a bit of rust. With forward-swept wings that each ended in a set of back-swept three claws, it looked very similar to the Arwings down below.

Samus quickly grabbed the scan info.

_*Mechanical Schematics: "Sky Claw."_

_Star craft is modified Arwing, with some shielding removed and lighter firepower. Cargo capacity is less than that of the typical Arwing design, but the sleeker and lighter design allows for higher maneuverability and speed. However, vehicle is capable of multi-target missile locking, making it a still-formidable opponent.*_

"You like her?" Falco said.

Samus turned to him, knowing what he was talking about.

"She's a good ship," Samus said, "certainly one with your capabilities in mind."

"Mm-hmmm."

"I'm just curious, though," Samus said.

"What's that?" Falco said.

"If the Sky Claw is such a good ship for you, why don't you take it out on missions?" Samus said.

He didn't respond immediately, but sighed, gazing through the transparisteel at the Sky Claw.

"I guess that there's just too many memories associated with it," he said at last.

Samus nodded, letting the matter rest there. As if to punctuate the end of the conversation, the elevator reached the upper shaft, closing off view to the star fighters. A moment later, the elevator emerged at the top of the shaft, hisses as the elevator came to a stop in front of a large door. The door slid quietly open, letting in light from the next room. Those without armor suits blinked as the light stung a little, but Samus' and the Twins' suits automatically adjusted the light filters allowing better adjustment.

Beyond the door was the bridge of the Great Fox, silvery-white and several consoles on a central platform, while the windows resided several yards away from the edge, and the whole platform faced in between two appendages that looked like projectors of the sort on Federation ships.

Samus shook off the memory, too much pain associated with the Federation. She should've seen it happening…

"Ah, so this is that straggler that we helped out of that spot! Welcome aboard, stranger," a warm, congenial voice greeted as they stepped out of the elevator. The source of the voice, Samus saw, was an aged hare sitting at the fore of the command platform. Walking forward, Samus extended her left hand.

"Samus Aran, bounty hunter," Samus said.

"My name is Peppy Hare, but you can call me Peppy or Gramps, as Falco has lately taken to calling me," the hare said, taking Samus' hand.

"Well, Gramps seems a better fit for you, then," Samus said, turning to the Twins, "and these two are T-Fru…"

"How do you do?"

"…and T-Gan…"

"One wrong move, you're dead."

"…both of which are Luminoth of Aether," Samus finished.

"Hmmm. Well, there is one more member I forgot to mention…"

"Hello. My name is ROB 64. How may I be of assistance?" a monotone voice droned from over the ledge. Samus looked over and saw another level of workstations, although this one seemed less user-friendly and more built for the goldenrod android rapidly tapping on the various instruments.

"Yep, ROB here is the one that makes this ship go," Peppy said, "although he would never brag about it."

"I am built for ship maintenance, monitoring, and, if required, ship piloting. Bragging is not one of my programmed functions," ROB droned.

Peppy chuckled at that, as if remembering some memory.

"That android has certainly seen plenty of action…"

"Excuse me," T-Fru piped up, "but I was informed that there would be a debriefing of sorts?"

"Oh, right, right," Peppy said, moving his creaking joints into gear, "Slippy, if you may?"

"Sure," Slippy said, walking over to his workstation and tapping some buttons. As he did this, the lights in the bridge dimmed and the appendages Samus believed to be projectors flared to life, illuminating the space between them with a large screen-like hologram, confirming Samus' guess. On the screen appeared a readout of the planet, with its name in the Lylatian language. A translation scan read it as "Sadarshia."

"So, here's all that we know of this rogue planet," Slippy said, as more information in the alien tongue popped up.

"We've detected massive energy outputs from this planet," Slippy continued, "we haven't quite figured out what it is, but from the readings so far, I've found that the energy is a mixture of that Phase stuff…"

"Phazon," Samus corrected.

"Right," Slippy said, "so anyways, it's a mixture of Phazon and Aparoid DNA in a balance-counterbalance relationship, causing each to enhance and strengthen each other with their pros, while strangely it appears that they are negating the rampant effects usually found in such substances. We've found this new substance is present in every part of Sadarshia, even to the very atmosphere, sort of like carbon is for Corneria. But, according to scans, this substance is perfectly safe to breath. Now, as for the planet itself, it appears to have various structures of natural and seemingly nomadic origin. There is technology on the planet almost on par with Cornerian standards. Other than those things, there's nothing else really to report. Aside from those things, there's nothing out of the ordinary for this planet. It's got a variety of wildlife and ecosystems."

"You forgot the whole 'returning from the dead' ordeal, frog boy," Falco said.

"I was just getting to that Falco," Slippy said, glaring, then turning to Samus, "anyways, there is an energy signature present in the Phazon/Aparoid substance, which in turn has caused a dimensional…"

"In English," Falco interrupted again, "every species we've every fought has come back from extinction or submission in one form or another."

Slippy glared again.

Samus nodded, placing her arm cannon into one of the data readers. The cannon configured itself to the alien data port, copying her data logbooks into the databanks of the Great Fox.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Krystal said.

"If we're going to be allies, then we'll need to be on the same page concerning information," Samus said.

Within a few moments, the process was done. A moment later, the holoscreen began flashing information on the various creatures, mechanisms, and other information Samus had collected over the years. Turning to Slippy, she nodded to notify him that he would be navigating the pages.

"So, Slippy, if you would go to the files marked 'Aether,'" Samus said. A moment later, the file log of said entries appeared on screen. Again, nodding to Slippy, she began her narrative.

Samus recounted all of her observations on Aether to the Star Fox Team, keeping it to the bare facts of what she and the Luminoth knew of the Ing, T-Fru filling in a few spots. However, despite her original feelings, the mercenaries seemed to be following along quite easily, nodding at every point, even the part where Ing could possess both organic and mechanical beings. Gradually, the explanation was taken over by T-Fru, who relished in this sort of thing, and Samus eventually submitted the conversation to her, instead stepping back to allow T-Fru her stage of performance and spot in the limelight.

Eventually, T-Fru came to the end of her explanation, finishing with the ability of the Ing to phase in and out of an amorphous form.

"And that is all we know of the Ing," T-Fru said, finishing with obvious flourish making it clear she enjoyed explaining.

"So, what you're saying is if we find one, shoot it?" Falco said, obvious cynicism in his voice.

"Well…_yeah,_ that's a good summary, I supposed," T-Fru half-mumbled, her pride deflated.

"What bothers me is what the Ing did earlier to the Space Pirates," Krystal said.

"What about it?" T-Gan said.

"If what you've said about them is true, and taking into account their earlier attack, then why haven't they tried attacking us…"

*thud*

Samus barely heard it, whipping her head to the aft of the bridge, trying to triangulate by ear where it had come from. Failing at that, she held up her hand, silencing the Lylatians as she gazed at the door. That thud had sounded from a distance in the back.

"Did we hit something?" Peppy said.

"Negative," ROB droned, "there is no visible damage to the outside hull. The frequencies of the sound pulsations identifies the sound came from reverberating transparisteel. In summary, we have been boarded."

Samus turned full-body to face the door, visor flashing as the blast shield activated, hiding her eyes behind an emotionless wall. Samus walked towards the door, priming her arm cannon

"And where are you going?" Falco said.

"To take out whatever creature they sent to take us out. If there is one thing I specialize in, it's taking down powerful foes," Samus said.

"Don't believe her? I've got plenty of holo-vids that prove it," T-Gan said, "and in a few minutes, I'll have another…"

"You and T-Fru are staying here, where it's safe," Samus said, "I don't want you or your sister getting hurt?"

"Getting hurt!? Oh, c'mon! I've been training…"

"Training isn't actual battle, so stay here or I'm calling up U-Mos and asking for a transport to get you out of my sight!" Samus snapped.

"Well, what about you? If what you say of these Ing is even half-true, you're in just as much danger," Peppy said.

"Don't worry, I've faced these odds before," Samus said, turning to the door and exiting.

"So, good luck," Slippy called.

Samus raised her left hand in acknowledgment, all the while thinking of how much she was going to need it. Silently, she wondered if even that would be enough. Given that old enemies were returning, with a horizon full of new ones, Samus couldn't help but feel slightly hopeless at the thought.

_It'll be alright, it'll turn out,_ she told herself, _it always turns out okay._

She still was trying to convince herself that as she marched into the dark corridors.

**Ehanu: So, now that this chapter is done, I have to apologize that it took so long. But I've been busy with some business lately, particularly GETTIN' A NEW LAPTOP THAT DOESN'T TAKE FIVE HOURS TO LOAD A FLIPPIN' PAGE OF TEXT! My new laptop is so much of an upgrade that it isn't even funny. It's like I went from crawling through the bandwidths to shooting through on a frickin' rocket!**

**ADW: Wow, that sounds like your happy with that. Now, will we be able to see more frequent updates?**

**Ehanu: Possibly, but I am also planning a new Spyro fanfic that crosses over into the…well, I'll just let you all find out.**

**ADW: (Growls) You certainly like to make us wait, don't you?**


	9. Shadows of Doubt

**Ehanu: I think if I leave everyone on the edge of their seats any longer, they'll fall on their face! Time to begin in earnest.**

Samus' footsteps echoed off the metallic walls, returning to her ears as dull taps. The elevator, welcoming and ready before, looked more like an empty shell, forbidding and forboding.

Nonetheless, Samus stepped onto the hologram, the gears in the elevator whining as they carried the elevator and Samus' armored figure down the shaft. As the elevator sank into the depths of the Great Fox, Samus brought up her video com-link, which was linked up to the video screen on the bridge. Immediately, the Lylatians and the Twins appeared in front of her eyes, ever ready for her call.

"Ah, you got through," Peppy said.

"Alright, where's the damage?" Samus said, cutting to the chase.

"Well, it doesn't look like there's any serious or notable damage, really," Slippy said, "in fact, it looks like the creature isn't even aggressive."

"But, it does bear remarkable resemblance to a creature we've encountered before," Peppy resumed, "and it was a creature we believed was one-of-a-kind and very unique. But, it appears that these 'Ing' have somehow found one to be their leader. His name, or at least his codename, was 'Drakor.' We're sending all scan info on him now."

The video link disappeared as a flood of information appeared on Samus' visor, displaying a creature that was an armored dragon.

*_Morphology: Drakor of Sauria_

_Subject is dragon-like fusion of technology and ethereal ability. On Sauria, the Drakor was one of the inner-circle Commanders of General Scales' army. It was assumed that the Drakor was a test subject for one of General Scales' many experiements and mutated into a monstrous creature later given cyborg enhancements. But, given the new circumstances, it is possible that the Drakor was one of an endangered species._

_The Drakor had an arm-mounted blaster and powered armor systems. This other Drakor appears to be similarly upgraded with power armor, but seems to lack an energized weapon._

_Target is super-charged with Phazon. Approach with extreme caution.*_

Samus cleared her visor of the scan info just as the elevator shaft opened up to the storage bay and its massive storage of spacecraft. Samus didn't even wait for it to reach the bottom, launching herself into a series of flips, crashing to the floor below. Samus' landing rang through the galleries of the bay, even as the echoes of it faded to the dread silence of the darkness.

Activating the thermal visor, Samus began her march through the gallery, eyes darting back and forth in a constant vigil of aware searching. She knew what she was looking for, and had the feeling her target knew also. Too many times, too many missions had proved that to be fact.

_Now the only question is how much of a threat we consider each other,_ Samus thought, chills running down her spine.

As Samus progressed through the gallery of vehicles, she noticed that the space fighters were gradually giving way to ground and water vehicles. Samus noticed the majority of the various craft were variations of three kinds of craft. The main body types Samus noticed appearing most were a speeder-bike, a submarine, and a smaller, open-cockpit style of Arwing. If there was one thing that Samus could reason, it was that the Star Fox Team was kind of like her: always seeking to have the best tech on every mission.

Samus' foot hit some protrusion, almost falling over. Regaining her posture, Samus looked over at what she had tripped over, noticing a good-sized stone tablet just lying there. On the stone were runes that looked strangly familiar.

Switching to her scanner, Samus activated the translation module, curious to see if it was another record of the mysterious race. Slightly surprised, Samus found that it was indeed another record. She opened the translation with gusto.

*_The Lifegiver_

_I am Jarvo, one of the few survivors of our race. I must tell the glorious news of our rising return to prosperity._

_Our race was once beaten and nearly destroyed by senseless monsters we refer to as "The Aio." It was their slave, the Destroyer, that nearly spelt doom for our kind._

_But, oh, what wonderous news the Lifegiver brought! At first, we felt threatened by him, having seen what waste another of his caliber ravaged on ours and other worlds. But, somehow, in becoming a creature of the Blue Poison, he also utilized the DNA of another race that was apparently more dangerous then the Aio, if such a thing were possible. The result is a monstrous creature with lethal capabilities, yet all the gentleness of his personality before his change._

_The technicalities escape me. One would have to ask Darakoru, as we call him, as he is the one this all happened to._

_Anyways, Darakoru came with amazing news. Using the Poison constantly generated in him, he gave our Shadow Energy Controllers a new Lifegiver, one used from the dredges of evil, and turned to something for the cause of good._

_Thus, we now refer to the former-Blue Poison as "Mirath," which means "life-blood" in our tongue. Thus, how Darakoru got his name from us. "Darakoru" means "Lifegiver." He is now our protector, savior, and guardian. We are eternally in his debt._*

As Samus read this entry, an uneasy feeling welled in her heart. Whoever this "Darakoru" was, they sounded like they had somehow tricked this race into believing that Phazon would help them. And according to Jarvo, it seemed to be working, for now.

But how much longer did this race have before Darakoru revealed the true, ugly aspect of Phazon and unleashed it again on this race? Samus only felt dread for them, knowing it was only a matter of time.

If only she weren't involved with this just-as-lethal Drakor, then she'd be able to seek more clues on the mysterious race and help protect them from the monster in their midst.

Caught up in this thought, Samus almost didn't notice Drakor as she swung around an arrow-shaped submarine. She had rounded the corner and saw it, as it was looking at a speeder bike.

Mentally cursing herself, Samus ducked back behind the submarine, every sense alert to the extreme degree. If there was one thing that Samus learned during the Phazon War, it was that anything Phazon-powered was to be treated with the utmost degree of caution.

With her back against the submarine, Samus scrolled through her available beam weapons, trying to decide on the likeliest success. There was a good chance Drakor's armor would be made of a Phazite composite, so the Nova beam would be a good candidate. But, if the armor was a high-density conglomerate, the Power beam would be the best choice.

This was probably the worst part of any battle for Samus: the preparation.

At last, Samus breathed in that last breath, held it, and flung herself into the open gallery, swinging her cannon up to aim at...

Nothing.

Immediately, Samus stood, swinging her cannon around to find the Drakor. Seeing nothing, she lowered her cannon and began scanning the surrounding area. Not even the scanner could find anything. Nothing on the vehicles, the hull, not even...

A blue blip on her visor identified an object she had yet to scan.

Walking over, Samus glanced at her surroundings to check one last time for danger before turning her full attention back to the object. Clearing out of her scan view, she switched it to normal view, noticing that, to her surprise, it was yet another tablet, somehow appearing where the Drakor had stood.

_There's no coincidence, only fact,_ Samus thought. _But the fact is that the only way this tablet could've gotten here was by Drakor or one of the Star Fox team. But, assuming the team isn't hiding anything, why would Drakor want me to read this?_

With all senses screaming that this was a trap, Samus scanned the tablet.

*_It has begun_

_Darakoru warned us his power would draw the unwarranted attention of many. He warned us that his was a power sought for unrighteous gain._

_We still asked him to us it for our cause. And now, I fear the wars with the much-feared Aio and Destroyer are beginning to repeat themselves. Already, the insectoid Demons have returned, even more detirmined than ever before._

_We were able to fight off several of their warships, but only to find worse news among their tracking and radar devices._

_More are coming...*_

Samus' reading of the tablet was interrupted by a single sound. That single clink of metal on metal was all the warning she got.

Samus whipped around, arm cannon raised, but only had enough time to see a red-scaled fist filling her vision.

The fist impact, flinging Samus across the room and sliding on the floor with a loud screech of metal on Power Suit. Samus' vision reeled and rolled as her body pinwheeled wildly, until crashing harshly into some vehicle. Samus felt her impact fold the vehicle, which might have been a bike.

Or, was.

Samus immediately switched into her Morph Ball, boosting away from the wreckage and flipping back into combat mode as she rolled into a battle-crouch with cannon aimed at Drakor, Power Beam shots blanketing the area where Drakor was. To Samus' faint shock, he was still standing there, but taking Power Beam shots badly.

Every shot sent him reeling a small amount, despite the heavy appearance of his armor. And, as if to add to Samus' confusion, the health scanner on her HUD showed that Drakor's health was dropping significantly. In spite of this, Samus kept up the barrage of Power Beam shots, draining Drakor's health significantly with each shot. At some point, Falco called her name and saying something about being there.

Finally, Samus opened up with a fully-charged Super MIssile, which leapt from her cannon like a starved beast seeing a fattened gosling with a broken wing. The missile collided with Drakor's face and, with an ear-splitting roar, he went down, health bar completely sapped.

Drakor laid there, seemingly breathing his last breath before his body went completely slack and Samus read zero life-signs.

The first thing Samus felt actually surprised her quite a bit.

She was disappointed. Casually, she walked over, looking over the dead monster, wondering. For all the hype this Drakor had caused, he was surprisingly easy to take down. In all actuality, he posed little more threat than a typical, low-class Space Pirate!

Standing over his body, Samus kicked Drakor's lifeless form. Then, Samus was suddenly being lifted into the air by the throat, a pressure on her throat.

"I actually don't believe it worked," a deep voice rumbled, even as Samus now saw what it was holding her, "would you believe that's the first time I tried that trick?"

Samus' eyes widened. It was _Drakor!_ Somehow, he had come back to life! But, how!? Samus' scanners had read zero life readings. The creature had been dead! The scanner...

"But enough of me," Drakor said, "let's talk about you. Now, what was your real name again, I have a hard time remembering. Seth, Sid, Samuel..."

Samus tried to bring her cannon to bear, but Drakor threw her down to the ground hard enough to crater the steel.

"Now, now, Destroyer, let's play nice," Drakor said. Again, Samus tried to lift her now-heavy arm cannon to fire, but a jerk on each arm followed by a sharp burn showed that Drakor had restrained her with a Phazon shot to each arm. A similar jerk and burning at her feet identified similar treatment. The Phazon immediately started eating at her shields, depleting them a bit slower than she was used to. But, oh, the agony of it fired through every fiber of her being, igniting every nerve in a miniature warfare within her body!

"Well, now that we're on speaking terms, let's begin with introductions," Drakor said, "First, I'll start. My name, or at least what the Sadarshians call me, is 'Darakoru.' I am the reputed leader of the Sadarshians, although I have no idea why they made me leader. I just showed up with a way to help their dying world. Let me just say, you did quite a number on their world, Destroyer, both you and the Aio."

Destroyer? Aio? If only the burning agony of the Phazon weren't there, then Samus would've been able to the think more clearly!

"But, in the end, I was able to piece the Sadarshian world back together, thanks in part to my new abilities in Mirath manipulation. This substance is quite amazing, really, although, I don't need to tell you that, Destroyer. There was a time in your history that you actually got corrupted with the dark version of Mirath, wasn't there?" Drakor - or Darakoru - continued.

To Samus, though, her pained mind managed to catch that last bit. The dark version of Mirath? Was he talking about...? A new wave of agony swept through Samus as another energy tank was depleted. She only had three left. And at the rate the Phazon was depleting her energy, the corruption would begin in a matter of seconds.

"So, in short, I must apologize for the discomfort you are in right now," Darakoru continued, bending over Samus' tormented form, "it seems that fusing Mirath completely with a new biomass still causes high levels of discomfort labeled as 'pain.' But, don't worry, at some point, you'll lose consciousness and then the fusion process will actually accelerate. Then your body will become accustomed to it and soon become another source of Mirath, as I am."

No! No, no, no, NO! She hadn't escaped terminal corruption once just to have it come back full-force later and corrupt her this easily! She couldn't let this happen, she wouldn't...

Yet another tsunami of firing nerves dissolved her will like tissue in the ocean. She had experienced Phazon overload before, but nothing ever this intense. It seemed to intertwine with every essence of her being, replacing her biochemistry with the filth that was Phazon. But, even that thought didn't seem so appalling. Rather, it seemed like a welcome thought. Phazon had lent her power before, why not let it...?

NO! SHE WOULD NOT BECOME A SLAVE TO THIS MONSTER!

"Why do you fight it?" Darakoru said, his voice coming from by Samus' head. "If you give in, the pain will vanish and you will be one with the ultimate power in the galaxy."

Samus came out of her fog of pain long enough to make her stand.

"I...fight...for..."

"Fight for what? Do you really know?" Darakoru spat, his voice intense.

Samus reeled up with strength lent from her agony.

"I...AM...JUSTICE!"

"Justice, huh? Justice for who? For the weak, the innocent, the defenseless?" Darakoru spat, venom spiking his words, "Do you really know who the weak or innocent are? Did it ever once occur to you that you were serving justice on the wrong side? Did it ever occur to you that maybe those you fought for were in the wrong? Did it ever happen upon you that those you sided with were the evil ones? Oh, sure, they're beings of light, they embody all that is good, the light saves all and those who aren't part of it have to die, regardless of their intentions."

Then, Darakoru's voice calmed.

"Of course, I haven't met the Aio, so who am I to judge?" Darakoru said, placing his right paw on Samus' helmet. As soon as he did, information on Samus' visor shot through at impossible speeds, unbidden, as it seemed Darakoru was hacking Samus' suit and logbook. Suddenly, Darakoru hummed pleasurably, seemingly satisfied as Samus' entry on T-Gan and T-Fru appeared on her visor.

"Now, it seems, I _can_ judge," Darakoru said, "you've brought two Aio along for me to interrogate."

Samus wanted to scream, but all strength had left her, blackness beginning to edge her distorted vision.

"So long, Destroyer of Sadarshia," Darakoru mocked, "now, we will see who is justice."

Samus disappeared into a world laughing at her pain and loss. Never, never, never, everlasting was the cry of loss in this place.

Samus blacked out.

**Ehanu: (Looking over at Ancient Dragon Writer) I think I may have broken a record or something. Ancient Dragon Writer just fell out of his seat.**

**ADW: (Dusting himself off) No comment.**


	10. Mirath, Questions, Changes

**Ehanu: This next chapter will see the beginning of the conflict. Samus, having been corrupted in the last chapter, must now come to grips with a new reality. Her world will never be the same.**

When Samus awakened, the first thing she felt was ice. Incredibly, terribly cold ice thronging throughout every fiber of her being.

The incredible difference from the burning fire before took away her breath, a sharp gasp ringing through the room she was in. The sound rang off the walls, sounding metallic and returning to Samus' ears as a haunting, ghoulish sound.

Then, like someone flipping on a switch, every sense fired on and Samus was immediately aware of every single thin within the room through all senses, save that of sight. The only thing she could really see was the stark grey of the ceiling above her. The information coming in the five senses was processed and all comprehended all before Samus was even aware of the fact.

The very first thing she noticed was that this wasn't either her Gunship or the Great Fox. It was a different ship entirely, if it was a ship at all. The disturbing part was Samus hadn't seen or felt anything to give that away. It was like she had scanned her surroundings and the information went directly to her brain.

Groaning, Samus stretched her limbs, the pain of the freezing starting to wear off as the icy feeling began to disappear with the return of her blood-flow. Feeling returned to her buzzed nerves and gradually Samus became aware of a slightly disturbing fact.

Her Power Suit was deactivated.

Quickly, Samus threw a hand up to reactivate the suit, reaching for the button on her gauntlet that would reinforce Samus' frame with the Chozo armor. But, she felt only her wrist.

Her _feather_-covered wrist.

Samus' first thought wasn't what one would expect. Rather than the shock and horror one would find that their wrist was no longer skin but feather, Samus merely pulled herself into a sitting position, wondering what the damage was.

As suggested by what she felt on her wrist, Samus was completely covered head-to-foot in yellow feathers, each feather lined with a lime-green tint. The colors, reminiscent of her Power Suit, made for a rather stunning effect.

Her hands and feet also received similar changes. Her hands and feet were covered by the hard armor-like skin seen on many birds, colored a darker yellow than the feathers. Her legs had gained an extra joint, the hard plating starting between the two joints. Her arms, on the other side, was covered all the way to her wrists in feather. Taking a deep breath, Samus steeled herself as she glanced down at her shoulder blades. Extending from a quarter-way down her back were two massive, feathered wings, currently furled against her back. Samus found, to her half-surprise-half-joy, that manipulating her wing movement was just as easy as moving her arm. Likely, as part of the change, some part of her brain had been adjusted to allow for seamless movement without needing learning of any sort in the matter.

Finally, at long last, came the part Samus had probably been dreading the most. Raising her hands, (or, claws, rather) she felt her head. At the back of her head, she could feel several feathers extending past the back of her head, coming to a point several inches away from her skull. Running her hands forward, she then felt the beak jutting gracefully from where her mouth as a human would've been.

Samus' thoughts then started running in every which direction. She was bewildered as to what had caused this. There was a many great amount of creatures that she had encountered which were capable of changing others in grotesque ways, but nothing like the complete anatomical rearrangement Samus had experienced.

Then the memories of the battle came back to her. Darakoru, Phazon, burning...

That Phazon monster, Darakoru, had done this to her. Somehow, he had corrupted Samus and the result was... well, _this._

Burning hatred entered her mind as she remembered Darakoru's arrogant manner. He acted like many jerks she had met in the Galactic Federation, particularly that commanding officer from the Bottle Ship Incident. How she had wanted to punch him in the face!

She felt similarly about Darakoru, _especially_ after he said he was going to talk to a pair of Aio Samus had...

_Wait a minute, he didn't mean the _Luminoth Twins_, surely!_ Samus wondered, beginning to be short of breath as her mind began to make connections. If the Aio were the Luminoth, and Drakor was Darakoru, then that had to mean...

Suddenly, a metallic arm swung down from the ceiling, stopping just short of her face. Samus cried out in surprise, falling back to her bed with a soft _thud._ The moment she did, pain lanced up her wings and through her back. Surprisingly, though, the pain vanished as soon as it came, like a wind.

Groaning in irritation, Samus pulled herself up to a sitting position, her body surprisingly void of all unneccessary pain. Immediately, she saw the thing that had nearly struck her in the face - er, beak.

It was only a data-screen, of an alien design that Samus had never seen before among any species ever. Everything about the module was half-organic, all from the tentacle-like arm connecting it to the ceiling to even the keypad hanging off the bottom. On the screen was a fist-sized circle, blinking yellow.

Hoping it would provide either answers or exit from the room, Samus placed her right talon on the circle. A moment later, the circle disappeared and information appeared on the screen.

Removing her talon, Samus saw it was only a message.

_*Welcome aboard the MGS Goliath, Samus Aran. Please select from the following choices.*_

As the message promised, several options popped up on the screen, ranging from the weather on the nearest planet, local slip-space traffic, and various other options, almost enough to make Samus get a headache.

_At least I have nothing better to do,_ Samus said, scrolling through the options before her. It wasn't long before she stopped a talon-claw on one promising option.

_*Bioscan*_ it read.

With another glance at her feathered form, she clicked the icon.

The screen retracted, whipping up into the ceiling as two larg pylons lowered onto either side of Samus. The pylons lit up with yellow light, and started to revolve around her, the light's intensity and pylon speed increasing with each revolution. The room beyond became a blur, the blue-steel walls blurring into the spinning revolution of the scanner pylons. There was a beep, the pylons slowed, the lights dimmed, and the whole construct lifted into the ceiling again, quickly followed by the abrupt return of the screen.

_*Scan status: Complete_

_Subject: Samus Aran_

_Morphology: Primaeval Chozo. Due to a combination of Chozo DNA splicing and infusion of Mirathian Blood, the Chozo within you has been fully manifest in a full anatomical rearrangement with several additions modern Chozo lacked. Primarily, the infusion of Mirathian Blood has lead to your body becoming a source of Mirath, with the output controlled by environmental conditions, neccessity, and/or personal preferance. Secondly, the infusion process has lead to the Chozo DNA overcoming your Human DNA, although fragments of Metroid DNA remain in part. Due to your varied genome, not only has the Chozo DNA manifest, but revolved to its primeval state, meaning the breed of Chozo at its prime. Your previous corruption with the aggresive Mirath has lead to a more plyable DNA structure for this process._

_Ability alert: Powered Flight acquired, disabling Space Jump / Speed Booster disabled, due to muscle augmentation, Shine Spark ability remains / All other Chozo Battle Armor systems have been assimilated as organic ability. Further information has been saved to logbook for review.*_

Samus read through the information with a twinge of disbelief. Those many years ago, when she had first been infused with Chozo DNA from Gray Voice, she had learned of why the Chozo had looked the way they did. She had actually cried the first time she heard the story of the Chozo falling into the degraded condition due to some unknown disease. As a child, she had longed to see, just once, a fully-winged Chozo in glorious flight.

But, now that she was a "Primeval" Chozo, she didn't know what to think. There was plenty to be happy for that she was now the (secret) creature of her dreams. And if the circumstances of her transformation hadn't been the way they were, Samus would've dropped her characteristically hard expression and smiled a child-like grin.

Yet, the circumstances were the same as before. If the scan was anything to go by, Samus was now a source of Phazon, or "Mirath" as the log read. And that raised a new question: what in the galaxies was a Mirathian?

Again, Samus turned to the screen. After a few minutes of searching, she finally found what she was looking for.

_*Known species*_

Opening the link, she tapped the search option and entered in her query. Samus almost expected it to come up empty, so it was a slight surprise when the search came up with one result.

_*Mirathian_

_A race of beings that is even more shrouded in mystery than the Chozo. Little to nothing is known of them, save that they were extremely powerful creatures, with enough inherent energy within them to accomplish many wonders. Legend has it that mere contact with a Mirathian would cause temporary augmentation and effect to the subject. The effects varied from subject to subject, with results also dependant on the personality of the Mirathian contacted._

_With this recent development of Mirath, a new insight is revealed into the nature of Dark Mirath, known as Phazon._

_Phazon was the blood of a power-hungry Mirathian seeking to either conquer or kill its enemies, building itself an empire. As there is no reports of unknown creatures with god-like ability, it can be safely assumed that the other Mirathians fought and defeated the tyrant. Given the usurper was Mirathian, it is very likely it left an imprint of its ambitions in its blood, creating Dark Mirath, or Phazon.*_

Samus' talons flew across the keyboard, searching another subject.

_*Darakoru_

_Information on this subject is locked.*_

Growling, she punched the bed, leaving a good-sized dent, but continued typing. Perhaps a good loop-hole would have to do.

_*MGS Goliath_

_MGS Goliath is a Mirath-powered ship, having been awakened by the infusion of Aparoid and Phazon signatures. At the core of the ship is an Aurora Unit-like intelligence known simply as Nova.*_

A sudden idea occurred to Samus. Assuming this intelligence was connected in some way to the ship, and perhaps Darakoru, there likely was a route of communication from this console to Nova.

Thankfully, Samus still retained some hacking skills from her years as a Galactic Federation cop.

_*login request - core intelligence access_

_..._

_Granted. Initiating communication link.*_

Smiling, Samus leaned back, putting her talons behind her head as she felt smug over her accomplishment. It hadn't been too hard, she mused as she stretched her wings and legs. In fact, it had been rather easy. Easy enough that even a Metroid...

Samus' ease of mood disintegrated as one thought came to mind.

It was _too_ easy.

"Greetings, Samus Aran. I was beginning to wonder when you would decide to access my communication lines," a deep voice reverberated.

Samus was off the bed and her talons bared before another moment had passed. She was immediately ready for combat as she began a quick search of the room, alert for Darakoru's position. The question now wasn't if he was here, but when he would attack. Even though she was weaponless, Samus still knew how to fight. But she was bothered by how he snuck into her room without her notice.

"There is no need for hostility," the voice said again, "I merely wish to be hospitible. Now relax, and we'll just take it one step at a time."

Samus whipped around, snapping her wings open in an attempt to catch Darakoru unawares. How had he jumped across the room like that?

"Please, have a seat Samus."

Again, she turned, the voice on the opposite end of the room as the situation began to make sense. Darakoru wasn't in the room, but a voice was. Even as Samus heard the voice, she started to realize it was starkly different from that of Darakoru.

This one was _much_ deeper.

Still wary of any surprises, Samus walked back over to the screen with a hardened expression. Seeing there was no immediate threat, Samus decided on a different course of action.

"Who are you?" she asked the voice.

"I? I am merely an entity seeking that which is right in the universe. For all of my former life, I wandered the universe, a mere drone, built to that which the Hive purposed me to do. I was an Aparoid, without meaning to my existence."

Samus jerked, remembering what the Star Fox team had told her of the Aparoids. Her talons itched for a weapon.

"Calm yourself, warrior. I am no longer of the Hive. I broke off upon discovery of the planet Phaaze. The radiation of the Phazon was enough to break off my connection and give me self-awareness. Any thoughts of taking over anything vanished with my connection to the Hive," the entity said, his image appearing on screen, which appeared to be an Aurora Unit.

Samus growled, barely keeping her anger in check. There was nothing she could do.

"Now, please, come with me," the AU said as the screen started to slide down an unseen track, "Shipmaster Darakoru requests your presence."

_Darakoru!? This was his ship!_ Samus realized, eyes going wide as it hit her, _and if this is his ship, then this intelligence Nova..._

"Is there something the matter?" Nova said, stopping in the track.

"No, there's nothing," Samus said, starting to formulate a plan, "it's nothing at all."

After what seemed the millionth hallway, Samus was brought to an elevator by Nova's holo-screen. With a near-silent hiss, the sleek doors slid open in invitation to Samus.

"Please, step into the hologram," Nova said, "I will not accompany you as my mainframe is in the primary bridge."

"I assume that's my location?" Samus said.

"And Darakoru's current location. So, we shall meet face-to-face at the top. See you then."

Samus entered the elevator, the gears twanging as the elevator began its descent to its location. And Samus began the mental preparation. If she was going to kill Darakoru, she was going to need all the preparation she could get. Every second, every moment was another weapon in the coming battle. But, whether that weapon was for or against Samus was up to her and how she used every moment.

Yet, despite the amount of time Samus had, the doors still slid open before Samus felt sufficiently ready, revealing a massive chamber beyond. Taking up one single, _massive_ wall was the viewport to the outside. Samus could see the distinct shape of the planet Sadarshia below. The bridge was simple in design, with no real embellishments, the blue metal flowing where it needed.

But Samus' attention wasn't on any of that. It was on the lone figure at the viewport.

"Darakoru," Samus whispered, again talons itching for a weapon, yet her plan already in action. It was now or never.

With a defiant Chozo war-cry, Samus leapt with talons outstretched.


	11. A New Enemy,,,?

**Ehanu: No excuses. I'm just glad to get this chapter out. Please R&R and critique if you feel so inclined. I need as much help as I can get with this story.**

The first thing Samus thought of, upon her return to consciousness, was how annoying this mission was beginning to get. Years of plowing through insurmountable odds clearly weren't a qualification for this kind of adventure. For that, it was likely better to have insane amounts of sheer, dumb luck.

Which just so happened to be the very thing Samus seemed to lack today.

Immediately after this realization, however, came the enlightenment that her ankles were tied together, leaving her thus dangling who-knew-how-high and upside-down off the ground. Opening her eyes, Samus tried to recon what she could from the vicinity.

The darkness didn't reveal anything outside of a three foot perimeter from her, leaving much to the imagination. Her body hung limply in its restraints, arms hanging limply up, or down, from her head. As Samus' slowly felt her muscles reawaken, she continued her search for anything that might be of aid to her current situation. From what she remembered of the brief battle, there had been her lunge, Darakoru turning to face her, then sudden blackness.

Just as she wondered how it was possible to faint so suddenly, a sharp pain fired through her entire skull, frying every nerve in her cranium with the annoyingly intense fire. But, just as fast as the reminder of her defeat came on, it vanished with not so much as a metaphorical whisper. Without the mysterious headache, Samus immediately resumed her search for anything useful, trying hard to ignore the questions of this whole situation.

That was how she discovered the third piece of information. Blinking in her sight, to the lower-right of her view, was a single white light. Slowly, at the pace of a snail, it processed in her mind that she was receiving a communication.

Reaching up to her helmet, she pressed the button to open the channel.

"SAMUS! RESPOND!"

Recently-rectified headaches had a thing for sudden, loud noise.

Samus jerked awake with an eagle-cry, dangerously swinging back and forth through the air. Quickly, she flapped her wings to regain control even as her head began to throb with a vengeance. But, just as before, the headache vanished as if chased away by some internal guardian angel.

_Wait a minute,_ Samus thought, the last split-second beginning to register in her mind. One simply did not cry like an eagle or flap their wings.

_Unless they were transformed into a friggin' Chozo!_ Samus thought with a groan, remembering her transformation.

"_SAMUS!"_

"WHAT!? I'm awake already! Sheez!" Samus groaned back, making no effort to hide her annoyance.

"We thought you were dead! Your life-signs went crazy one moment, then the next they were absolutely dead. We thought for sure we lost you, but I couldn't be so sure. So, I kept calling you on the comm, hoping you'd respond," the speaker - T-Fru, Samus realized - said. Groaning, Samus rubbed the temples of her head as T-Fru kept talking, going on about "scientific statistics" and other things Samus didn't understand.

But, at last, T-Fru got to the all-important question.

"So, what's going on?"

Samus sighed bitterly at the thought, thinking how to best preserve her pride.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Samus said at last. "My last conscious memory was attacking Darakoru, then, nothing."

"Nice to know," Falco cut in, "but what about before, y'know, when we lost contact with you? Would you kindly enlighten us on the subject?"

"Oh, _that,"_ Samus said, thoughts beginning to race as she tried to think of a viable response. "Well, in that case, suffice it to say that what I _thought_ was going to happen was only slightly different than what _actually _happened. And what _actually_ happened is something that would require _seeing _to believe."

"What sort of response is that?" T-Gan said, "Either tell us what happened or..."

Samus shut off the link, not wishing to listen to T-Gan's hot-headed mouth-off. The last thing she needed right now was T-Gan's fiery attitude. What she _did_ need...

_Wait a minute,_ Samus thought, feeling a familiar energy begin pulsating through her bonds. Looking down (or up) at her feet, she noticed the dim, blue glow of Phazon eminating from the thick talon-bindings beginning to glow brighter and brighter. Pulling her upper body towards the cords, Samus grabbed one of the coils of cord in her right claw and used it to hoist herself up to the object.

As soon as she got close enough to see the cords, however, the light in her ankle-bonds suddenly exploded with azure light. The phazonic energy raced from her bonds, up the pillar to which she was bound, and throughout the chamber she was in, revealing it to be the very room she had battled Darakoru in.

The bridge. The next question, though, was the bridge for who's ship?

As if hearing her silent question, the entire back wall of the bridge opened. Massive plates slid and ground away, slowly opening whatever was behind it into the light. The mystery didn't last long, as a tank filled with blue liquid revealed itself as the entity beyond the wall. The blue energy continued to illuminate the object from within, gradually bringing a shape into focus with more and more clarity. Narrowing her eyes, Samus hoped her suspicions on the occupant were wrong. But, if she was right...

She was.

"Nova!"

The giant brain, armored in a combination of many colors and styles of protection, had no facial features. But she didn't need any of that to know the brain was pleased that she recognized him.

"Greetings, Samus Aran, it is a grand pleasure indeed to make your acquaintance in a more... formal setting. Introductions are in order, I believe..."

"What for?" Samus interrupted, "I already know your name and you know mine!"

"My point, but you haven't properly met your colleague, 'Darakoru' as the Sadarshians call him. I will have to apologize before hand, however, as there is some urgent business that requires attention after this formality is done with," Nova said.

Samus wondered what sort of "formality" the Nova had in mind. But she did have some idea of what the entity had in store.

When Samus had initially awakened to find herself as a Chozo, she had completely forgotten one fact of her Phazon-Mirath corruption. She hadn't noticed it, no thanks to her rearranged anatomy, but now that she had had time to adjust, somewhat, she realized that her free-will was still completely hers. Somehow, her Phazonic corruption had missed that part of her.

Upon that realization, however, came the thought of what Nova and Darakoru had planned.

Samus threw herself towards the bindings again, determined to rip them off with her bare talons, if neccessary.

"Would you kindly explain to me what you are doing?" Nova said to Samus, who ignored him as she continued her effort against the rope-like tentacles. But, as before, it was in vain. The tentacles would not give at all.

"Such an effort is futile," Nova said, "those bindings are connected to your brainwaves. As you are aggravated, the tentacles react to negative emotion by tightening. So, essentially, you are keeping yourself imprisoned."

Once again, Samus fell slack in the bindings, seething with impatience.

"Kill me or release me, Nova, but do not waste my time with talk," Samus said.

"Talk? You underestimate the value of talk. Wars and murders, jealousies and anger, all preventable with talk," Nova said.

Samus just glared at Nova, scoffing. Nothing would make her happier right now than to just put a few well-placed plasma bursts through that brain's non-existant face. If she had her Morph Ball capabilities, that would've...

A burst of light shone from Samus' body, an electronic clinking and an odd, yet familiar pressure formed over the whole of Samus' body. Her foot-claws suddenly freed themselves from the immovable bondage, leaving Samus to fall. But she did not fear as she felt her body rapidly compress and cocoon in armor-like material. Seconds before crashing to the ground with a metallic _thud,_ Samus - or the Morph Ball that constituted Samus - landed to the ground.

Without hardly a moment's celebration at the discovery, Samus leapt out of her Morph Ball and jumped behind a pillar. Without any visible means of activating her weapons, Samus searched the immediate area for a weapon of any kind.

"Samus! Stop! You know not what I mean to tell you!" Nova yelled.

_Yeah, right, I know exactly what you mean,_ Samus thought sarcastically. At the same moment, she found a weapon. Dashing out of the cover, she grabbed the weapon and, noticing its weight, grabbed it with both talons. At this point, Nova had seen her and turned in her direction.

"What do you hope to accomplish, Samus, by continuing your senseless rampage?" Nova said.

A shadow flitted across Samus' vision, but she made no visible movement. She kept the weapon, which looked like a detached turret of some sort, aimed at Nova.

"Did it ever occurr to you that you might be on the wrong justifications and impressions?"

Another shadow flitted by. There was no mistaking that shape.

"You will learn the truth, Samus, and you will feel deep sorrow for what you've done."

THERE!

Samus whipped around, hitting her assailant-to-be in the face, knocking him back. At once, she saw it was Darakoru, stumbling from that hit from the weapon.

Samus pulled the trigger and screeched a Chozo war-cry as the turret unloaded its plasma fury straight into Darakoru's face.

Darakoru threw up his arms as the first bolts reached him, blocking them with his wrist's with seemingly hardly any effort.

"You always shoot first before asking questions, why is that?" Nova said.

A beep whined from the turret as the stream of plasma cut off. Samus cursed and threw the now-useless weapon away dashing straight at Darakoru. She hit him mid-chest, throwing both of them beyond the threshold of piping that had rimmed their position. A sudden lightness betrayed the fact they were falling, and falling fast.

"Why must you senselessly fight all the time, Samus?" Nova said.

"SHUT..._**UUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPP!**_" Samus screeched, half at Darakoru.

Darakoru threw his fist at her. She caught it and hit him in the face easily with it. He lashed out with his tail and caught Samus on the leg. The force sent her somersaulting through the air, but she wasn't finished. She streamlined her body, tucking in her arms, legs, and wings as close as possible and arrowed straight at Darakoru. At the moment of impact, Phazon energy exploded out from them, lighting up the shaft as brightly as Galactic Federation headquarters. The duo plummeted even faster as the wind whipped in their faces.

Samus connected a fist to Darakoru's chin, he lashed back with a swift uppercut to her cheek, she back-handed him, he head-butted her. They exchanged blows faster than any outside observer could likely keep track of, their fists nothing but blurs as they fell.

Darakoru's fist slammed into Samus' beak once again, snapping her head back for that split-second. As she brought her head back to bear, she grabbed Darakoru's armor collar and prepared for a head-butt. But, she saw something that made her pause for another split-second. To any lesser-experienced, the slight hesitation Samus showed for that mere fraction of a second didn't seem like it mattered, but in the moment she reeled her head back and stopped, she saw Darakoru's eyes. And then, all thoughts of attacking were pushed to the side.

The many enemies Samus had fought, she had subconsciously noticed one thing about every single one of her foes: their eyes. She remembered Mother Brain's single, crazed eye trained on her, murder in that gaze. She thought of Kraid and the soulless efficiency inherant in his eyes. Even Ridley and his countless forces of Pirates had a look of sheer primevel hatred for anything that wasn't under their control. Samus had seen that darkness in each of them, but had not realized then.

But, staring into Darakoru's eyes, she realized how true it was that the eyes really are the windows to the soul.

Suddenly, Darakoru lashed out with a fist, connection hard enough with Samus' beak to flip her over, Darakoru still holding on his death-grip. But their eyes remained in contact.

Samus fought back, grabbing Darakoru's face and trying as hard as she could to wrench it from his neck. Darakoru grabbed her wrists, making a similar effort to break her grip. Neither of the two combatants gained the advantage, neither did they give.

Samus got another glance into Darakoru's eyes, understanding beginning to dawn on her.

Darakoru had a fire in his eyes that she had never seen in any of her foes. It had been easy to slay the likes of Pirates and Metroids, those all having a dead look in their eyes as they fought for wicked purposes. But Darakoru had a fire that Samus had only seen in one other group of people. It wasn't in any of the people or creatures she had fought.

It was in the eyes of her allies!

Samus kneed Darakoru in the gut, rocketing him off her, leaving her room to unfurl her wings. Immediately, she was wary of any follow-up attack from him, but he fell roaring past her to the dark pit below, wailing his cry of defeat.

Samus, however, hovered there with concern weighing heavily on her mind. The fire that Samus had seen in Darakoru's eyes was one she had definitely seen many times in the eyes of her allies, but never in that of her enemies. Until now, at least. Now, it had just became a little harder to be able to fight Darakoru.

Because he believed in his cause.

Turning her eyes down the shaft, she couldn't help but wonder what it was that made this strange, Phazon entity have this alien idea. It was a monster! He wasn't supposed to believe what he was doing as right! What could've possibly possessed him to believe so firmly?

_I can always go ask him,_ Samus thought, sighing with annoyance.

Why couldn't enemies just stay in a basic form and and avoid all evolution of a conscious?

**Ehanu: And there we have what I was able to cough up after my frickin' writer's slump.**


	12. Thrak's Discovery

"Sir, the Destroyer has initiated a rampage on Darakoru! Employing measure 13..."

"No, Goliath has sent orders to not intervene. Darakoru is more than capable of holding his own."

"But, Your Highness..."

"I won't allow you to breach protocol and reveal yourself to the Destroyer. There's a reason that Goliath prefers us to stay hidden."

"We can't just sit here and watch our greatest warrior die!"

"Oh, the Destroyer would have to be incredibly lucky for that to happen. We have no need to worry; Darakoru's record is nearly flawless with missions."

"Nearly."

"Complain all you want, Thrak. But I am not about to allow you to throw yourself head-long into a conflict you know you can't win."

"But, My Emporer. Just think..."

"This conversation is over. Return to your quarters and await the all-clear. Do NOT try to help Darakoru. He's already detailed a plan for me and there's nothing to worry about. Am I clear?"

Thrak growled, struggling to calm his ruffled cranial fronds, but bowed low to the patriarch of his race.

"Yes...Your Highness," Thrak hissed, trying to maintain an air of humility, before turning down the hall and sulking back to his quarters.

The massive Emporer turned his muscular form to the guard on his right and muttered something. The guard nodded and began marching after Thrak. As the Emporer watched both leave, he groaned, rubbing his skull-node with a claw.

"What ails you, My Liege?"

"That incessant librarian Thrak! Ever since the Return, he's had wild ideas for conquering hate and overpowering our enemies with weaponless means. If he had his way, every soldier would be armed with Data-gathering mutations rather than the usual weaponry!"

"If he were not of the Blood, I would recommend..."

"No, Jiral, that will not be neccessary. Thrak is a brother, of the Blood or not, and murdering in cold-blood never solved anything, especially when it's an innocent who only seeks to better the galaxy. I merely consider it an extra that his knowledge is an asset we have."

The Emporer gave his eye one last rub before lowering his claw.

"I just wish it didn't come at the price of listening to his 'revolutionary' ideas. I'm getting too old for this job."

**Thrak**

I didn't hate the Emporer. I felt the highest respect for him and would've given my life for him during the Aio War. That is, had I been born a couple decades earlier than I had been.

But, the fates had other plans. Instead of giving my all for a fight of survival, I was fuming over the permissions denied me in having a close-encounter experimentation upon a theory I had _just_ developed and could only further by such methods.

And now I had another _instead_ to deal with. Instead of seizing this opportunity, I was now confined to quarters, wondering whether or not our savior, Darakoru, would live through this encounter with the Destroyer.

How could my scientific and theoretical knowledge help the whole of Sadarshia if no one was willing to let me take risks!?

Entering my room, I almost smashed the door controls into the wall with my fury. Whirling to my desk, I began dissembling and reassembling the first contraption my claws happened on. All attention, however was on my fury.

Why wouldn't the Emporer give me this chance!? Wasn't I a more-than capable warrior? Of course I wasn't as adept in battle as other Sadarshians, I was one of knowledge! But if I had had one uplei for every time my knowledge averted some catastrophe to our already-dying race, saving our meager populace, I would be wealthier than the Emporer's whole family! I was the leading and only Compiler in the history of the Blood! Wouldn't my methods _naturally_ seem risky to a people so accustomed to _war!?_

With a screeching war-cry, I threw the item against the wall, a _crunch_ awarding my ear-nubs to the result. But I couldn't care less. What point was my tinkering and experimentation if I never got the green-light?

My fury dimmed somewhat, my submission to my situation beginning to intrude. The fire of my anger left me slightly woozy with fatigue, so I went to my nest. Plopping amongst the many pillows, I tried futily to maintain my anger.

What did the Emporer know of my abilities and intentions? He thought that my test was going to be some new weapon on the Destroyer to kill it. But, in reality, it wasn't. It was a mecha-organic technology meant to harmonize a Sadarshian's natural phazing abilities with the semi-organics present in Darakoru and the Destroyer, resulting in a sort of symbiosis. I had tried explaining it to the Emporer, but he had responded with ill favor to my idea.

Pressing a button on my call-shelf, I searched my dimensional storage unit for the device. I knew my art and my space, but with all the safeties and security I put on the device, it still took me a good two standard minutes to retrieve the artifact.

Pulling my claw out from the void-like unit portal, I brought the device to light.

Having influence from the data-banks of my youth, I had modelled the modification device after that of the Chozo and Aio races, despite the Aio being our enemies and the Chozo supporting the Aio. Round like a ball, but coursing with a purple-and-black reminiscent of the skin pigmentation of a Sadarshian, there was an ethereal effect to the item. Adding to this was the object's inscription with the symbol for peace: three parallel lines with circles between them.

Normally, my experiments required anyone or anything with a brain. But this device's test was what I had been trying to get the go-ahead for and susequently denied. It wasn't anything particularly dangerous, save for the test's initiation. But it required one with the semi-organic Mirath-powered armor that Darakoru and the Destroyer wore.

My anger at last fizzled out as my mind thought of the details of the device. In all honesty, I considered it to be my greatest work. Not only had I put my figurative blood, sweat, and tears into it, but also all of my collective knowledge and even a good deal of luck. I was even willing to believe in a divine intervention on my part, as there was NO way I could've found the particular grade of ithra crystal neccessary to provide the couplings for the harmonizing...

My room shook with a sudden shockwave. I went still as I immediately listened to the battle outside. They weren't that close, were they?

_ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAWWWW!_

I jumped nearly a foot high, startled nearly out of my scales from the proximity of that roar. But still the battle alerts on the ship didn't go off. Either they were broken (which wasn't possible) or that was an exceptionally loud bellow.

I jumped again, not from fright, but as an idea invaded my thoughts. For that loud of a cry to come clear to my room with that high of a retained volume, there had to be certain factors that I was pretty sure neither Darakoru or the Destroyer had when I had last seen them on the holo-vids.

I grabbed my calculator, punching in the formula. Assuming they were still in the cooling shaft, that would be a distance of such-and-such, the volume sounded like a solid 160 decibels (A/N: loud as a jet engine up close). So that, assuming my numbers were correct (which they were), would mean that Darakoru or the Destroyer would have to have a body size of...

The calculator clattered to the floor as I saw the numbers.

I scooped up the device and punched in the numbers again, wanting to make sure...

_*Calculations complete: Calculated height of creature - 84 ft tall._

I tossed the calculator onto the desk with my heart racing. I found where the modification device was and rushed out my room. I didn't care whether or not the Emporer found out I was disobeying orders, but such things simply did not matter right now. If this test turned out successful, the second war with the Destroyer and the Aio would end before it had a chance to begin.


End file.
